Blood Stained Kubikiri
by KatonKageNaruto
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, with the will and strength of Haku and Zabuza, lives his life to fullfill his destiny, and take on the challenges he is bound to face. Darker Naruto, and expect major plot twists!
1. Chapter 1

**Blood-Stained Kubikiri **

…**Chapter One…**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it's the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and this disclaimer is for the entire fanfiction!**

**Note From The Author: **Ehehehe, I know I still need to update my other fanfiction and all but I just cant focus on the same thing constantly. So I felt like starting a new one, with a totally different genre. That being said, you guys should most likely vote for the pairing, and it will greatly affect the outcome. You can basically vote for any female to end up with Naruto EXCEPT HINATA OR SAKURA. Those are pairings I will not do. Also the pairing will most likely come later, serious stuff will most likely happen when Naruto is 16 or 17. Just know you are free to vote for basically any female, but the ages wont change, if you vote for Tsunade, she is still 50, same with everybody else. Anyway that's about all… **Onto the fic!**

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto still isn't here!" Sakura whined.

Sasuke stood against a tree with his scornful gaze aimed at the ground. It was safe to say the Uchiha was brooding, as he always did.

"Did he get lost on the road of life as well?" Kakashi asked, his face buried in his pornographic novel. The Jounin was a few hours late, yet again, however the third member of Team 7 was still missing.

"Let's just go on without the idiot. He always messes the missions up anyway. Not to mention he's a hindrance anyway," Sasuke stated flatly, his hands resting in his pockets.

"It isn't very nice to leave your teammate behind," Kakashi said.

"C'mon Kakashi-sensei! This team would be better off without him! Let's just go like Sasuke-kun said," Sakura complained.

"The dobe probably overslept," Sasuke commented.

"Or he's stuffing his face with ramen," Sakura said.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. Let's get going," Kakashi replied. He really wasn't in the mood to spend his whole day searching for the hyperactive blonde, besides it was just a simple mission, one Naruto would complain about doing if he figured out what it was.

"Great! We don't have to be bothered by the "annoying Naruto" today, isn't that great Sasuke-kun?" Sakura exclaimed.

"Hn," he grunted back.

Naruto snorted and chuckled to himself. The blonde shinobi watched his team leave through the gate, Sakura fawning over Sasuke like an idiot as usual. He was perched on the branch of a tree, only about one hundred feet away from his team's meeting place. How he ended up with such a pathetic team he'll never know, and how the famed Kakashi was such a moron in real life the Kyubi container will never figure out.

Naruto chuckled to himself. The Sharingan bearing Kakashi couldn't even slightly see through his act. Of course, the rest of the world couldn't either. But that's because most people treated him like shit, or didn't give him a second glance because he wasn't important enough. Sure Kakashi realized that the said shinobi had potential, but he never acted upon it one bit. They could all drown in their ignorance for all he cared.

The blonde shinobi looked through the fluttering leaves into the deep blue sky. He smirked, recalling the words of his black-haired brooding teammate. Him, a hindrance? If anything that pink-haired sack of crap was the one that never did a single thing on their team. And they believed he liked her? For having Sharingan they were worse than blind. How could anyone like a useless ugly bitch that needed anger management like her?

Naruto still put an act up in the academy of being the cheery and talentless troublemaker everybody thought he was, but it was nowhere as severe as it is now. What too many people didn't know about Naruto is that he didn't trust other humans, in fact he despised them. Growing up all alone, and having everybody spit at your feet, it taught him to only trust himself. So one day, he can teach the village a lesson. How? He dint know yet, but that time would come up; it was destined to. So for now our blonde Kyubi container decided to put up an act, so when the time came, nobody would be able to foresee what he truly was.

Sure some people treated him nicely, Iruka and the Sandaime, but he saw through their acts not too long ago. Iruka just felt sorry for Naruto, since the Chuunin could relate to him; they were both picked on and grew up alone without anybody. If Iruka truly cared for him, he might as well have adopted him earlier, instead of just buying him ramen now and then. Iruka was just trying to feel better about his past by giving guidance to Naruto, who he saw as himself. The Sandaime gave up his position to Yondaime, who soon after had to sacrifice his life to protect the village. So Sarutobi felt like he had to look over Naruto, since he felt like it was his fault the fourth Hokage died. After all, since Naruto knew of the Kyubi residing in him, the motive of the Hokage's care wasn't too hard to figure out.

When the blonde shinobi did find out about Kyubi from Mizuki, he didn't know quite how to take it. He knew why the villagers despised him so much, but it was a stupid reason. Those morons wouldn't even be alive if he didn't hold the fox; they would have all been killed by it ages ago. So why did they scorn him for saving their hides? But taking in the fact that he holstered a demon wasn't too hard for him. In fact he took the nine tailed demon fox inside of him as something positive. He could scare any villager shitless, and being able to tap into the Kyubi chakra was great. Yet most of his true self was created from the influence of Haku and Zabuza. Naruto gazed at the sky, the endless blue reflecting in his own irises filled with oceans.

"Haku, Zabuza, I barely knew you, but I miss you guys."

FLASHBACK

"Oi, dobe, are you coming back with us or what?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke-teme! I'm gonna stay here and master climbing this tree unlike you!" Naruto yelled back.

"Suit yourself Naruto. Tiring yourself out wont speed things up," Kakashi stated plainly.

"Naruto you baka!" Sakura said.

"Hmph," the blonde shinobi replied.

Naruto watched the rest of his team walk away, going through the underbrush and leaving the forest. When they were finally out of sight he started laughing. "Hahaha! Idiots!" The Kyubi container walked up to the tree he was trying to walk up earlier. He placed one foot on the trunk and slowly began making his way up the tree.

"Heh, treewalking. Piece of pie, I can't believe Sasuke can't even do this." He kept walking steadily up the tree with no problem. When he finally reached the top, he took out a kunai, and after twirling it with his fingers made a slash on the very top branch. Naruto then hopped back down to the ground.

"Now for some real training!" he exclaimed. He formed his hands together into the ram seal and began focusing his chakra. A massive blue burst of energy erupted from him. It swirled around him, flowing freely. "Ok then, time practice molding that demon chakra!" The blonde shinobi began concentrating harder, and more of his own blue chakra began flooding from him. "Raaaaaagh!" he began yelling. Soon a red spark surrounded him, and before he knew it a mountain of red chakra was rapidly swirling around him. Naruto felt his fingernails and canines lengthen and grow. He grinded his teeth, trying fiercely to focus on compressing the rabid chakra. "Must maintain it!" he shouted aloud, his body already shaking from the strain of the red chakra.

The Kyubi chakra swirled intensely around the blonde ninja. The ground around him was rupturing and cracking apart. The skin on Naruto's arm suddenly ripped making a large gash run down from his elbow to his hand, blood freely flowing from it. The same thing happened on his other arm, and he could feel blood dripping down from his chest and the rest of his body. The chakra was taking its toll on Naruto, and with one last yell, his eyelids closed and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

The light trickled through the canopy, making shadows run along the blonde shinobi's face. His arms were sprawled out on the grass, his injuries from the previous day already healed. Birds hopped and pecked around the unconscious ninja. Naruto's eyelids slightly opened, not used to the glare of the sun after being closed for so long. He could suddenly feel somebody shaking him.

"You're going to catch a cold if you sleep there," the mysterious person said.

Naruto sat up all rubbed his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked in a weary voice. The girl with long black hair wearing a strange outfit smiled back at him. "Did you wake me up? By the way, what are you doing?"

"Picking herbs," the person answered.

"Herbs?" Naruto questioned.

"That's right. It's to cure injuries and illness."

For a few minutes Naruto helped this mysterious person pick herbs. "Doing a tedious job like this in the morning?" he questioned.

"What are you doing here so early in the day?"

Naruto decided to keep up his act for a while longer with this person. He smiled, and confidently said "Training!"

"Are you a ninja or something? That forehead protector…"

"Do I look like one! Yes, I'm a ninja!" he exclaimed.

"Wow, you're amazing. But were you training?" the newcomer asked again in a monotone voice.

"I need to become stronger!"

"For what reason?"

"To become the number one ninja in my village. I'm going to make everyone recognize my powers," Naruto lied.

"Are you doing that for someone else, or for yourself?" the black-haired girl asked.

"Huh?"

"Do you have someone that is important to you?"

"Important? What are you trying to get at?" Naruto questioned. The black-haired person got a distant look in her eyes, filled with something Naruto recognized. It was a different pain from his, but the pain of being alone was still in there. He was going to drop his act now.

"Actually no, I have nobody important in my life," Naruto said. The girl across from him looked up a little startled at his change of tone; it was no longer cheery and enthusiastic.

"A person is able to become truly strong when they protect someone they cherish," the person replied.

"Well then, I hope I eventually find somebody to cherish," Naruto replied harshly. There was a brief moment of silence. "You, you're that person that made us believe Zabuza was dead aren't you?" he questioned.

The black-haired person looked up startled. "What?" she exclaimed. "How do you know?"

"Gut feeling," Naruto replied. "You're eyes… are familiar. What's your name?"

"Haku," Haku replied, looking back down at the ground, trying to hide the pain in her eyes.

"I'm Naruto." He paused for a short period of time. "So Zabuza is your precious person? And those herbs are for him, huh?"

"Yes," Haku replied, not sure what to do about Naruto, killing him was something Haku really didn't want to do.

"Can you take me to Zabuza then?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Haku exclaimed, not expecting this in the least.

The staying place of the two mist nin was quite well hidden in the thickest part of the forest. Not to mention it was surrounded by a thick fog. The inside of the layer was quite dull and had an atmosphere Naruto didn't even like.

"Momochi Zabuza is in this room," Haku said, and pushed the large door open. It creaked as it swung aside. "Zabuza-san." Haku called out.

"What is it, Haku?" the former demon of the mist replied, currently lying down on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head.

"A certain person wants to see you," Haku stated, unsure how this situation would turn out. And at that moment, the blonde ninja walked through the door.

"You, you're that kid that was on Kakashi's team," Zabuza said, picking up the kunai next to him and twirling it between his fingers.

"Hello Zabuza-san," Naruto greeted, giving a slight bow. He really didn't feel like getting killed off, so being a bit more polite than normal would probably help.

"Why are you here, kid? Haku, mind explaining what you're doing?" Zabuza asked.

"Well, I'm still not completely sure why I'm here Zabuza-san. I just felt like I should come here," Naruto answered.

"Well, you are not leaving. Haku, please terminate this pest," Zabuza ordered.

"Zabuza, you seem a bit lost. And you're eyes… cover up your pain don't they?" Naruto questioned.

"You have guts kid, coming here, and then asking questions as pathetic as these," Zabuza smirked. Haku stood there and watched the situation. This Naruto kid was putting his life on the line, and it seemed he didn't even have a reason for it.

"Well, me living my life the way I did, I can usually see barriers people put up to bottle up their misery," Naruto replied. "You're eyes are full of it Zabuza-san."

The sword-wielding nin crossed his hands, and smirked. "Haku, please go use those herbs to make medicine," the bandaged man ordered after a brief moment of silence.

"Yes, Zabuza-san," Haku replied, and walked out of the room. The marble floor echoed the retreating footsteps.

"You most likely see the pain in my eyes too, don't you Zabuza-san? Just like you saw the pain in Haku's eyes when you took her in," Naruto stated.

"You're analyzing skills are quite superb, you're getting the right answers on things you have no clue on," the demon of the mist replied.

"You can smile, you can laugh, you can cry, but all those things can easily be fake. A person's eyes can't lie. No matter how thick your mask or cover-up, a person's eyes still reflect the life they lived," the blonde ninja said, still not loosing his eye contact with Zabuza.

"But one thing you should know, Haku is a boy," Zabuza said.

This caught Naruto off guard. "Well… that's kind of awkward." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "He has superb cross-dressing skills," the Kyubi container joked, finally breaking eye contact with the mist nin.

"The reason I took Haku in…" Zabuza began. Naruto looked up, focusing his attention back on the mist ninja. "Is in fact because of how miserable he looked. It was after that that I discovered he had a bloodline and could be of huge use to me. The look in his eyes was so severe he was on the edge of having no emotions at all. It looked like he would give up on life at any second. In fact, it seemed like he was waiting for the snow to bury him and take away his life when I found him at that bridge." Zabuza took a brief pause and looked down at the ground. "At the time I thought I had gotten rid of all my emotions. But it seems I still had a heart."

"Life, it can be a bitch can't it?" Naruto said, having a slight compassionate smile on his face.

"That's one way of putting it." Zabuza lied back down on the bed. "I guess you can relate to us more than I thought, brat." Naruto remained silent.

"I used to be called the demon child of the mist long ago," Zabuza began. "From what I've heard, my father was mad. When I was a small child, he killed off a member of the council of the mist village. Then he went on and killed civilians for no apparent reason, and when other ninja tried to stop him, he ended their lives as well. He caused a massacre in the village; the streets were overflowing with blood that day. When they cornered him he tried using my mother as a hostage, but killed her off as well. Then he was captured and publicly executed. He was then referred to as the demon of the mist.

Since I was his son I was naturally called the demon child of the mist. I grew up alone, and barely managed to survive. When I walked by, people walked the other way. Nobody wanted to be near me. Beating me to the verge of death was a hobby for many shinobi of the village. How I managed to survive I still don't know. I entered the ninja academy, but nothing changed. I sat alone on one side of the room, with everybody avoiding me, the teacher tried to pretend I didn't exist. I kept all that pain and suffering hidden away, I didn't want to break down like a weakling. After class, my classmates beat me, on the way home shinobi of the mist beat me. My house was just a small shack, but most of the time it was sabotaged.

You've already heard of that graduation exercise of the mist, where best friends are made to kill one another. On that day I couldn't take it, and I snapped. All the pain I kept hidden away escaped and took over. It turned into wrath, and as soon as that graduation exercise began, I killed all the academy students. I laughed when their blood splattered on my face, I wanted to rip their arms off, to cut them into pieces. I found each and every academy student, I hunted them down, and I killed them all. I was laughing the whole time, I wanted that blood to soak my skin. It was the happiest day of my life. Technically, the point of the exam was to kill each other, so I wasn't executed for doing such an act. But that day I became the demon of the mist. My father's legacy became my own.

From then on I lived at the edge of the village in complete solitude, training every second of the day. The village council now knowing of my skill soon assigned me to be an assassin, and for the years to come I worked as a killer for them. And one day I felt I was strong enough, and I tried to assassinate the Mizukage. However I failed, and had to flee from the village before I was caught. On my way out I came across Haku. I left telling him we would return to the village, but we would have control over it when that happened."

Naruto bit his lip and looked down at the ground, his fists clenched. "Heh, and I thought I had a bad life. Humans can hate for the stupidest reasons can't they?"

"I don't think Haku and I will be around for much longer…" the sword-wielding nin stated.

Naruto's head jerked up, the surprise evidently showing in his eyes. "What?"

"For the past few years, we tried to gather forces and to earn money so one day we could take over the village of the hidden mist. Hunter nin were constantly on our tail, and when it seemed things were finally going our way there was a setback.

Brat, you said I seemed lost, well I am. Only a little while ago had I realized that this really was a lost cause. Our goal will never be accomplished, and our lives will never get better. I think fate has it set for us, we won't be part of this world much longer," Zabuza explained.

"You're giving up?" the blonde ninja asked.

"One way of putting it. Maybe in the afterlife Haku and I can finally be at peace. In two days your team will fight against us, and most likely that's when Gatoh will try to exterminate all of us. I'll kill the bastard before I leave this world, at least then this country will have a chance to survive."

"You still have a heart after all, Zabuza-san."

"Emotions are a lot harder to get rid of than it seems, kid," Zabuza stated. He sat up and opened the drawer next to his bed. He rummaged through materials inside it until he pulled out three scrolls that seemed quite old. He tossed them to Naruto who caught them and examined them. "Some jutsus from the mist village, from the looks of it you instructor wont teach you anything useful anytime soon."

"Thanks, Zabuza-san." The Kyubi container put the scrolls into his pockets.

"Now leave this place, or else I might actually kill you."

Naruto turned away from the demon of the mist and began walking to the door.

"One last thing," Zabuza began.

"Hm?" Naruto looked back.

"Take my sword, Kubikiri Houcho, and use it as your own. I don't want it to rust away at my grave, I made that sword after all. One of those scrolls is a sealing scroll, and you can keep Kubikiri hidden in there so no suspicions arise."

Naruto smiled a true smile. "I'll take good care of it. We… we are much more similar than we seem, aren't we?"

"I trust you know you shouldn't tell your team anything about this, for both our sakes," the demon of the mist said.

"Don't worry, I'm not THAT stupid," Naruto replied, and walked out the door.

Zabuza lied on his bed, looking at the dull grey ceiling. He shut his eyes and smiled. "His eyes really are similar to mine," he muttered to himself.

Naruto leaned over Sasuke's motionless body, checking his pulse. There wasn't one. Many needles adorned the Uchiha's body, blood trickling from the places they punctured his skin.

Naruto looked up at the frozen mirrors in front of him that reflected a masked person with needles in his hand. "Haku, did you actually kill him?" the blonde ninja asked.

"No, I struck the certain parts of his body that makes him appear dead, same as I did with Zabuza that one time," the masked boy replied, stepping out of the ice mirror and approaching Naruto. The Kyubi container grasped the needle in his shoulder and pulled it out. He winced at the pain. He proceeded to do that to the rest of the needles that covered his body.

"Sorry about that," Haku apologized.

"Its fine," Naruto replied, pulling out the last needle stuck in his body. "Kakashi might suspect something if Sasuke got beat and I didn't, so just in case…" He formed the ram seal and began focusing his chakra. A colossal amount of blood red chakra escaped from Naruto swirling madly in circles like a rabid beast. Naruto kept the chakra churning around him until his body began shaking from the pressure. He then stopped gathering the chakra and it soon vanished. Haku stood there watching the boy, awed at the drastic chakra that he just molded.

"So… that's the reason you were hated your entire life?" Haku questioned.

"Bingo," the blonde answered. There was a brief pause between the two. The mist cascaded across the bridge, and Haku's ice mirrors melted back into water.

"Zabuza-san and I won't live until tomorrow, isn't that right, Naruto?" Haku asked.

"How did you find out?" the Kyubi container replied.

"I also had a gut feeling about it," Haku looked down at the ground, his eyes swirling in a pool of sadness. "I remember how happy he was when he took me in, he saved me, I owe him my entire life." A lone tear trickled down Haku's cheek. "I regret nothing that happened during all the years I was by his side."

"Haku… it might not happen that way. Even if it is fate, fate can be changed," Naruto argued.

"Even if we live, life will only get harder and harder. There is no future…" the black-haired boy said in a low voice.

Naruto clenched his fists. 'This isn't fair. These two… They can't just die like this!' the blonde ninja thought.

"Naruto, I hope you find your precious person," Haku smiled at the blonde boy.

"Haku…"

"Zabuza-san!" Haku exclaimed. In a poof of smoke the boy was gone.

"Haku?" Naruto yelled out, surprised at the sudden disappearance. "Shit!"

The rabid sound of chirping birds echoed throughout the bridge, disrupting the eerie silence the mist created. Kakashi hand was surrounded by a massive amount of chakra that resembled blue electricity. The Jounin thrust his hand forward and a shockwave from the impact could be felt from the other side of the bridge. Blood splattered into the air, landing on Kakashi's and Zabuza's face, and a torrent of the red liquid gushed down onto the ground.

Needles pierced the scroll used to summon the dogs, and in turn the canines attached to Zabuza's arms and torso disappeared. Between Zabuza and Kakashi stood Haku, his outfit completely soaked in blood. Kakashi's arm penetrated Haku's body and went all the way through it. Haku's eyes were wide open, but no remains of life reflected in them. He was smiling, happy that he could protect his precious person.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked aloud. He looked around himself franticly. "The fog, it's clearing." The blonde ninja peered through the fog; he could make out a few shapes in the mist. The Kyubi container ran forward, but stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what the shapes were.

His sensei's arm was gouged through Haku's body, blood still gushing down onto the ground below. "What the hell is the meaning of this?" he asked aloud.

The blonde ninja watched Zabuza pull his sword, and began swinging it at both Kaakshi and Haku. "Kakashi will dodge it…" Naruto said aloud, knowing that the demon of the mist would never do something like that to Haku. 'Damn it, Zabuza was right after all about the outcome of today… It's not fair!' Naruto clenched his fists, and grinded his teeth.

"Naruto, you're okay!" a familiar voice called out. He looked up, and saw the pink-haired girl waving to him. "Where's Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto cringed. 'Is all that fucking bitch cares about Sasuke? Can't she see the fucking situation here?' he screamed in his mind. He felt himself shake, the pain and anger of everything that was happening overwhelming him.

"Naruto, where's Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked again. Naruto tried to refrain from yelling at the girl, his fists clenched. He bit his lip and felt it draw blood. Sakura obviously misunderstood Naruto's expression and looked like she was going to break down right there.

"Kakashi! You don't have time to look away!" Zabuza yelled out and charged at the masked ninja. Kakashi kicked Zabuza back and lunged toward him.

Sakura began running to where Sasuke was, Tazuna following her. She ran past Naruto not giving him a second glance. 'I hope she has a heart attack over Sasuke. Besides, he isn't dead anyway,' Naruto thought to himself.

Kakashi and Zabuza kept fighting, the sword-wielding mist nin doing a lot worse then he did before. Soon his sword was knocked aside and skid to the edge of the bridge. Kakashi managed to get kunai to pierce both of Zabuza's shoulders, and at this point the demon of the mist couldn't even use his arms.

Naruto watched the two ninjas clash. Zabuza was fighting a lot worse from before, even though it didn't look like it, Haku's death must have been taking its toll on him.

"Now you can't use your arms, you can't form seals anymore," Kakashi stated. Loud footsteps could be heard from the other side of the bridge. Kakashi looked at the direction they came from. Naruto turned his head to see who was coming.

"Looks like you got beaten pretty badly," a short man leaning on a cane said. He was wearing an expensive looking black suit along with a red tie, and had dark round glasses. Zabuza looked in the direction of the voice, recognizing it immediately. "I'm disappointed Zabuza," the man continued. Behind him was an immensely large group of people, all carrying swords, maces, knifes, spears, and other different types of weapons.

"Gatoh, why are you here? And what's with those subordinates?" The mist nin questioned.

"We had a little change in plans," Gatoh laughed. "I'm sorry Zabuza, but you're going to die here," he smirked.

"What?' Zabuza pretended to act surprised.

"If I rent official ninja, it would cost a lot of money. So, I rented an exiled ninja like you," Gatoh began. "If you ninja just killed each other it would have saved me a lot of trouble and money. And you call yourself the demon of the village of the hidden mist? You're just a cute devil if you ask me," the short man teased, and the army of men behind him laughed.

'Who are they? There are so many of them,' Naruto thought.

"Kakashi, I'm sorry but the battle ends here. Since I no longer have a reason to kill Tazuna, I have lost the reason to fight you," Zabuza stated.

"Yeah, you're right," the masked ninja replied.

Gatoh walked forward until he was right beside the dead body of Haku. "Oh yes, I owe this guy a favor. For gripping my hand until it broke!" Gatoh kicked the dead corpse with all his might. Naruto's eyes widened as he registered just what happened. "He's already dead," Gatoh said.

"BASTARD! What the hell are you doing?" Naruto shouted, rage overwhelming his entire body. He lunged forward and charged at the short man.

"Stop. Don't move so carelessly," Kakashi said as he grabbed Naruto and prevented him from moving.

"Why don't you say something too? He was on your side, right?" Naruto yelled at Zabuza.

"Shut up, kid. He's already dead," Zabuza replied.

'He wants to make this situation realistic…' Naruto thought sadly. "You really don't feel anything about what he did? You were with him a long time, right?" the blonde ninja shouted.

"Like how Gatoh used me, I was just using Haku. I said this before. We ninja are just tools. I wanted his abilities, not him. I have no regrets," the demon of the mist lied.

Naruto clenched his fists. "Do you really mean that?"

Kakashi placed is hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Stop it Naruto, we don't have to fight him anymore. Besides-"

"Shut up!" Naruto interrupted and knocked Kakashi's hand away. "He's still my enemy!" The Kyubi container panted. "He… He really liked you! He really, really liked you!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Haku. "And you really don't think anything of him?" Naruto let the tears fall from his eyes, and they ran down his face. These tears weren't part of the act; they were his actual feelings for the situation at hand. "Do you really… really not think anything of him?" When a person becomes as strong as you, do they start to think like that…?" Naruto sobbed. "He sacrificed his life for you! He couldn't even see his own dream… Dieing as a tool… is just… just… too painful…" By this time the tears flowed freely down his face and dripped to the ground. 'Haku… Zabuza… I'm sorry it had to end like this for you…' he thought.

"Kid…" Zabuza began. Naruto looked up. "Don't say anymore…" The tears cascaded down the bandaged face of the mist nin. He finally let his emotions out, and the river of tears dropped to the ground. "Haku, not only did he hurt his heart to fight for me, but he also hurt his heart for you. I know. He was too kind. I'm glad we were able to fight you as our final opponents." 'You were glad that you met me before you guys died…' Naruto thought, understanding the message in Zabuza's words.

The demon of the mist bit off his own bandages and let them dangle downwards until his face was revealed. Tears were still streaming down his face, and cascading to the ground. "Yes kid, it was just like you said. Ninja are human too. They might not be able to become a tool without emotions. I lose." Then Zabuza's tone changed. "Kid, give me your kunai."

Naruto shut his eyes. 'Goodbye, Zabuza.' He reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai knife and tossed it to Zabuza. It twirled through the air and the demon of the mist caught it by the handle with his teeth. Insatantly he lurched forward with intense speed, startling Gatoh who stood in front of him.

"Hey! Kill them!" Gatoh yelled at his miniature army and ran behind them to take cover.

"Idiot, do you think you can beat so many of us on your own?" one man with a large sword yelled at Zabuza, but at that moment Zabuza dashed past him, slicing his waist with the kunai in his mouth as he went.

As he ran through the crowd he madly sliced at their vital points, blood splashing into the air as he passed them. He dodged the weapons being swung at him and kept slaying more men that got in his way like a rabid animal. One person managed to shove a spear into his back, but the mist nin kept going, slicing and slashing the necks of the people. More swords got gouged into his spine and torso, and the crimson liquid poured down his back like a waterfall.

He finally burst through the large crowd of people and zoomed toward Gatoh. The demon of the mist was living up to his name, a huge evil chakra was surrounding his body and you could almost see it shape into a demon. Gatoh let out a scream as Zabuza dug the kunai into his chest, blood flowing freely from the wound.

Gatoh backed up, clutching his wound in pain. "If you want to go where your friend is that badly, go by yourself!" Gatoh shouted.

Zabuza looked up at Gatoh with a purely evil look in his eye. "Unfortunately, I don't intend to go to the same place as Haku. You're going to hell with me!" The demon of the mist swung his head, the kunai piercing Gatoh's neck and shredding away at his flesh. His head flew off from his body and rolled down the bridge leaving a bloody trail behind.

Zabuza turned around, the pure killing intent radiating from him made all the hired men of Gatoh make a path for Zabuza to get through. The mist nin began limping forward, and the bloody kunai dropped from his mouth, making a shrill clanging sound against the ground.

Zabuza walked onward, his vision blurry, but he could still make out the shape of his dead subordinate lying on the ground. "Haku…" he wheezed, "It's time to say goodbye Haku… Thank you for everything. I'm sorry," and with those last words the demon of the mist fell to the ground.

Naruto cringed and looked away. 'Goodbye Zabuza…. Goodbye Haku….'

"Don't look away," Kakashi ordered, "It's the end of a man who lived desperately."

Naruto focused his gaze back on the body of Zabuza. 'I won't look away for a different reason.' He thought.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun is okay! He's alive!" Sakura shouted to the blonde ninja.

Naruto turned around and saw Sasuke slowly stand up. It was difficult, but he tried to put on a happy face. 'Of course he's alive,' he thought.

"I see, so Sasuke is safe too. I'm glad," Kakashi said, looking back at the Uchiha.

A loud clinging caught the attention of the ninja. "Hey, hey! You guys are feeling too safe!" a man from the group of thugs Gatoh hired called out.

"Damn ninja! You killed our source of revenue!" another shouted.

"Now we have to attack the town and steal all the valuables," another said, and the whole group of armed men yelled in agreement.

"This isn't good," the masked ninja stated. At that moment the group of thugs charged.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't you have some jutsu that can beat them all at once?" Naruto asked urgently.

"No, I've sued up too much chakra," he replied.

At that moment an arrow struck the ground in front of the charging men and they abruptly stopped. Inari had gathered all the people of the village and they had all came here to defend what was theirs.

"Alright I'm going to help too!" Naruto exclaimed, and created four kage bunshin. 'I could create a lot more but then it would be too suspicious,' the blonde ninja thought.

Then Kakashi created nearly one hundred normal bunshin, but since the hired thugs didn't know the difference it didn't matter.

And with this all the hired men of Gatoh dropped their weapons and ran back to the ship, which soon bean sailing away.

Kakashi made his way over to Zabuza, and Naruto closely followed. The mist nin was at the verge of death, and had lost a ton of blood.

"Looks like it's over," Zabuza hoarsely said.

"Yeah," Kakashi replied.

"Kakashi, I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"I… I want to see his face."

Kakashi covered his Sharingan eye with his headband. "Sure." He picked up Zabuza, and began carrying him down the bridge. Naruto felt something cold land on his face. He looked up and saw snowflakes steadily make their way down to the ground.

'Haku, are you crying?' both Naruto and Zabuza thought.

Kakashi gently put Zabuza down right next to Haku, the snow by now was already settling on the ground. "Thanks, Kakashi," Zabuza said with a weak voice. The masked nin then walked back to his team.

"We've been together all this time… So I'll die next to you," Zabuza said to Haku. He mustered all the strength he could and placed his hand on Haku's cheek. "If possible… I want to go to the same place you're going to…"

He snow fell and covered the ground like a thin blanket. The clouds opened up and the sunshine danced on the two figures. A lone tear escaped Haku's eye, and made it way down onto Zabuza's hand, and from there it trickled to the ground. The two died together.

Naruto couldn't help the river of tears that raced down his face. "I will never forget you Zabuza… Haku… Thank you…" the blonde said, loud enough for only them to hear.

Naruto looked at the two graves upon the hilltop, the setting sun shining down on them. The sky was a vivid orange color, with the clouds tinted purple. Zabuza's sword, Kubikiri Houcho, was shoved into the ground between the two graves. It reflected the sun, and let off a bright gleam.

"I was wondering Kakashi-sensei… Does a ninja really have to be the way they said a ninja should be?" Sakura asked.

"Shinobi are not supposed to seek their reason to exist," Kakashi answered. "It is important that they exist as a tool. That idea exists in Konoha too."

"Is that what being a ninja really means? I… kinda don't like that," Naruto stated. He looked down at the two graves in front of him. "All right!" he exclaimed, "I've decided I'm going to follow my own "way of the ninja"! I'll run down the path where I won't regret anything!"

In a few minutes Team 7 began making its way down the hill, back to the home of Tazuna. Naruto, however, remained standing in front of the graves, looking up at the setting sun.

"Are you coming, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"You, guys go on head, I'll follow in a few minutes," the Kyubi container replied. His team proceeded to walk away, leaving Naruto to stand there alone.

"My way of the ninja is to live to make you proud, Haku… Zabuza…" the blonde boy said to the two graves. He firmly clasped the handle of the large sword, and with one pull plucked it out of the ground. Holding the Kubikiri Houcho gave him a sense of strength, and the feeling that Haku and Zabuza were with him. It felt right in his hands, it belonged to him. "I understand, by giving me your sword, you gave me yours and Haku's will, your strength, your hopes…" The sword glistened in the sun, and Naruto saw his own reflection on the surface of the blade. He smiled. "I will make you proud!"

The blonde shinobi took out the scroll Zabuza gave to him and opened it. He bit his thumb, and smeared the blood onto the paper. He touched the scroll to the blade, and with a large puff of smoke, the head cleaving sword was gone, successfully put into the scroll for storage. Naruto tucked the scroll away into his jacket, and ran down to catch up with his team.

FLASHBACK END

Naruto halted his reminiscing session, and smiled at the sky above him. "Well… I guess it's time to do some training," the blonde boy said to himself. He jumped down from the tree and proceeded to walk to the nearest training area. He didn't know what destiny had in store for him, but he would confront those challenges head on.

**ENDING NOTE: Thank you very much for taking the time to read my fanfiction, now click that pretty purple button and submit a review. You know you wanna. I hope to update this fic soon, as well as my other one. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Blood-Stained Kubikiri**

…**Chapter Two…**

**Note From Me: **OK, for those of you hoping for an update here you go! I know it took a while, but lately I've been going to the beach a lot, not to mention I got Narutimate Hero 3 for PS2 and Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 for GC. I was really busy playing them and hanging out with my friends, enjoying life you know? Heh, anyway…Thanks for all the reviews, and keep them coming! Each review is like a reward, and it does give me motivation to not give up on my fics, so don't forget to leave a comment, no matter how small! REVIEW EVERYBODY I BEG OF YOU!(Sorry for the freak-out) And now, onto the story!

**Jutsu Guide:**

Suirou no Jutsu – Water Prison

Suiryudan no Jutsu – Water Dragon Projectile

Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hidden Mist

Daibakufu no Jutsu – Great Waterfall

Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu – Water Clones

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The creek ran through the meadow, afterward spiraling back into the lush green forest. The area was peaceful, the only sound being that of the running water and the chirping birds that rustled in the trees. Serenity filled the area, and tranquility mixed into the gentle breeze.

The foliage rustled as the blonde shinobi stepped into the clearing. He smiled, this really was his favorite training ground. The surroundings made him forget about his problems, his life, everything. It just made him feel at peace with himself. If Naruto didn't meditate here every once in a while, he didn't know how he would keep up his act. The Kyubi container walked into the middle of the meadow.

"I'll start off with some stretching and then some conditioning," Naruto said to himself. He bent forward and touched his palms to the ground and held that position. He then proceeded to stretch to both of his sides, and afterward went into the splits position. He stretched forward from the splits, and did a few other stretches. The Kyubi container then began to do three hundred jumping jacks.

Naruto put his hands together to form his favorite hand seal and shouted out, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Another orange-clad Naruto poofed into existence. The original Naruto lied down on the grass, and the shadow clone held his feet. Naruto began to do sit-ups, and kept doing them until he reached three hundred.

The blonde shinobi then sat up, and pulled out a scroll. He rolled the scroll open, and touched his palm to it. With a puff of smoke many needles now laid across the parchment. Naruto scooped the needles into his hand and began plucking them into the ground. The shadow clone was doing the same thing a small distance away from where the original Naruto.

After all the needles were shoved into the soil the blonde shinobi began to take off his shoes. He put his sandals aside, and then got on top of the needles in a push-up position. The kage bunshin then got on top of Naruto's back and sat there. "One," Naruto said allowed as he preformed a push-up on top of the senbon needles. "Two." He made sure he went low enough for his chin to touch the needles. "Three. Four. Five." This exercise built Naruto's arm strength from performing the push-ups with the added weight of the kage bunshin, and also helped him on his chakra control ability. Since his feet and hands were on the needles, in order for the senbons to not puncture his skin he had to exert chakra and focus it on the points of the needles. This act required the chakra to be gathered and compressed at the tiny end of the needle at an even rate on every single senbon. The feat needed just a small amount more chakra control than water walking.

"One hundred ninety-eight." Naruto felt a trickle of sweat race down his face. His elbows were shaking and ready to buckle, and he was having a hard time keeping his chakra under control. He bent his arms and went down into another push-up. "One hundred ninety-nine."

"C'mon, you're almost there!" the kage bunshin on the Kyubi container's back encouraged him.

"Two hundred!" Naruto exclaimed. The shadow clone poofed out of existence, and Naruto rolled off the needles onto the soft grass. He panted heavily, but soon regained his breath. After a few minutes he got back on his knees and put all the senbon needles back into the scroll they came from. He tucked that scroll into his bright orange jacket and pulled out another scroll. The blonde shinobi took out a kunai from his weapon pouch and made small gash in his thumb. He rolled this scroll open and smeared a small amount of his blood onto the paper. With a large puff of smoke, the sword which was Kubikiri Houcho now lay in front of him.

Naruto had made it so the scroll could only be opened with his blood just in case somebody else got their hands on it. He clasped the handle of the oversized blade and heaved it into the air. Due to its massive size he was still unable to wield it flawlessly. To even use the sword properly the blonde shinobi had to focus and concentrate chakra to his hands, thus maximizing his strength, or else the sheer size of the Kubikiri Houcho would get the best of him. The head cleaving sword was much taller than him after all.

Naruto held the sword up into the air and began practicing his katas. He vertically swung the sword downward, and stopped it right before he hit the ground. He then lifted the blade back up and swung it downward again. The blonde ninja continued to do this for a few more minutes. He then began horizontally slashing the sword, from his left side to his right. After practicing that, he began swinging it from his right to his left, making sure it covered a 180 degree area of space. After finishing that exercise, Naruto began doing an uppercut slash, however due to the massive size of the cleaver he had trouble controlling the sword once it reached its peak. It would always go over the Kyubi container's head and he didn't have enough strength to stop it, thus making there be delay time if the blonde ninja wanted to continue the attack. If he tried to perform this attack in a real fight he would leave himself wide open. Naruto kept practicing the upward slash, but didn't get any better results.

"Damn, still can't get it right," he swore to himself, "I'll just move on for now." The blonde ninja preformed a horizontal slash followed by a spinning slash where the sword spun a complete 360 degrees, and afterward proceeded to do a forward thrust with the large blade. He practiced this combination of attacks for a few minutes longer until he finally felt like he got it down. He then began swinging the sword around his body at a very fast pace, similar to the attack Zabuza did when he threw all the clones Naruto made off of him. The blonde ninja wasn't at that level to perform the skill properly yet, but he was slowly reaching it. His slashing speed was still too slow and his movements lacked finesse and accuracy.

"And now time for the jumping attacks." Naruto leaped into the air and preformed a horizontal spinning slash, and landed back on the ground. The trick was to use the heavy weight of the sword as the momentum for the spin. The blonde shinobi then attempted a double spin and successfully completed it. As soon as he landed he swung the sword around his body for a diagonal slash and then followed it up with another thrust. The Kyubi container practiced this kata for a while, making sure that as soon as he landed after completing the spinning slash he could move into his next attack without delay.

Naruto sat down on the ground and put down his sword. He was out of breath from performing all those katas, and the sword being as large as it was, needed an enormous amount of energy to wield. After a minute of rest the blonde shinobi stood up and formed the required hand seal for the shadow clone technique. After the large explosion of smoke cleared, thirty copies of Naruto were scattered across the meadow. The kage bunshin didn't have a sword like the original Naruto, however. The blonde shinobi picked up the Kubikiri Houcho and settled into his fighting stance. "Let's go!" the Kyubi container shouted out, and with a simultaneous yell the shadow clones began charging at him.

The first clone charged in and attempted a jumping side kick at Naruto. The blonde ninja sidestepped the attack and whacked the clone in the chest with the hilt of his sword. The kage bunshin fell to the ground and disappeared in a plume of smoke. Next, two clones charged in at once, and Naruto greeted them with a horizontal slash. The kage bunshin leaped over the sword and sailed into the air. They then plummeted back down to the ground ready to kick the Kyubi container. Naruto lifted his sword above his head and used it as a shield as the clones plummeted down and kicked the blade instead of him. The two clones jumped backward, but Naruto gathered a large concentration of chakra to his feet, and lunged toward them at a tremendous speed. He thrust the head chopping cleaver into one of the clones, erasing it from existence. The other clone saw this as an opportunity to attack and moved in with a punch. Before the punch could connect, the blonde shinobi threw out a side kick that connected with the clones gut, sending the kage bunshin flying backward and then disappearing.

"All right, surround him!" one of the remaining clones yelled out, and the rest of them followed, surrounding Naruto from all sides. "Charge!" All the clones that circled Naruto ran in, getting ready to assail. Right before they reached him, Naruto spun the Kubikiri Houcho entirely around him, eliminating all the clones that didn't duck in time. The kage bunshin that dodged the onslaught leaped at Naruto, knowing he couldn't hit them with the sword due to the delay time of the spin.

'Shit!' Naruto thought. He let go of the handle of the sword, letting it drop to the ground behind him, and proceeded to parry the punch of the first incoming bunshin. He grabbed on to the arm of the second clone, grappling him into another clone which made both of them disappear. Another clone came in with an axe kick and Naruto put his hands up just in time to guard himself, however this left him open for an attack. The two other kage bunshin took this opportunity and kicked Naruto in the side, sending him flying backward. As the Kyubi container zoomed through the air he outstretched his arm towards the ground and managed to grasp the handle of his oversized sword. He then flipped his body upright and landed on the soil, slightly skidding backward from the speed at which he was sent flying.

The blonde shinobi held the sword up in front of him, tightly gripping the handle of the head chopping cleaver. "Now I'm going on the offensive!" he shouted, and lunged at the shadow clones, ready to strike the first one that came into range. He made an abrupt halt in front of one of the clones, and before the surprised bunshin could even put its guard up he swung the sword upward slashing across the clones's chest. As that kage bunshin disappeared in a column of smoke, another charged at Naruto. The blonde shinobi lifted the Kubikiri Houcho above his head and swung it downward on the charging clone, slicing it perfectly in half.

The remaining clones pulled out kunai and shuriken from their weapon pouches and simultaneously threw them at Naruto. As the weapons homed in on Naruto the Kyubi container lifted his sword in front of his body. The projectiles hit the metal blade and bounced off it, falling to the grass and truing into petite clouds of smoke.

Naruto gathered chakra to his feet and bounded high into the air, sailing forward to the rest of the shadow clones. As he reached them a few clones jumped into the air to attack him. Before the first clone could reach him, Naruto delivered a front kick to its jaw, sending it hurling back to the ground. The other tried to grab the Kyubi container from behind, but the blonde ninja preformed a spinning slash cutting that lone in half at the waist. As Naruto descended to the ground he thrust his sword into the head of another clone. The blade went through the vanishing smoke, and buried itself deep in the soil.

Another kage bunshin saw this as an opportunity to attack and raced toward Naruto. Currently being unable to use his sword, the blonde ninja shuffled through his weapon pouch and quickly pulled out a kunai, which he flung at the incoming clone. The kunai glided through the air impaling the clone right in the chest, and the bunshin turned back into a cloud of smoke right before it reached Naruto.

Naruto grasped the handle of the sword and pulled it out of the ground. He looked at the kage bunshin remaining; ten of them were loosely spread across the meadow. The Kyubi container felt a small smirk make its way across his face. "Alright then, all of you come at me at once!" he hollered out.

"Everybody pile on top of him!" a kage bunshin yelled out, and the remaining shadow clones charged at Naruto and pounced onto the blonde shinobi, piling up on top of him.

"Rhaaaagh!" Naruto mustered up all his strength and swung the Kubikiri Houcho upward, and then slashed completely around himself. He then swung the sword rabidly in all directions knocking the clones off of himself and sending them soaring through the air. Every single bunshin was sent flying aside from the powerful onslaught. As the shadow clones hit the ground they skidded through the grass and moaned in pain before bursting into plumes of white smoke.

"That's all of them…" Naruto panted. He stuck the head chopping cleaver into the earth so it could stand on its own, and then fell backward onto the ground. The blonde ninja wiped the sweat on his forehead away with his hand, and relaxed so he could get his breath back. After a few minutes of rest the Kyubi container sat back up, and took out the scroll he used to store his sword. He put his finger on the edge of the giant blade and slightly pushed forward. Blood began pouring out from the small gash Naruto made. He wiped the blood on the scroll and touched the paper to the sword. After the trail of smoke disappeared the cleaver was safely stored.

Naruto lifted himself onto his feet and stretched upward, keeping his muscles from getting cramped. The blonde ninja walked through the meadow until he reached the bank of the creek. By now it was midday, and the sun was slowly beginning its descent down. The setting fiery orb cast a gleaming orange reflection in the running water, as a breeze ruffled the blonde spikes of the Kyubi container.

"OK then, time for some jutsu training," Naruto exclaimed. He had put the scrolls Zabuza given him to good use, and practiced the jutsus within them at any moment he could. One scroll contained water attacks from the Hidden Mist Village, while the other had detailed explanations at how to turn the water into ice and several ice type attacks. The ability to turn water into ice is a capable feat for any shinobi, however it needs a large amount of skill and chakra to do. Due to Haku's bloodline he could turn the water into ice with almost no expense of his chakra and with ease, but that wasn't the case for Naruto. The ice scroll said to master every technique from the water jutsu scroll before attempting ice techniques, due to their difficulty level being higher. The blonde ninja was on the verge of mastering every technique from the water scroll.

Naruto began to perform the proper hand seals and then said, "Kirigakure no jutsu." The air around him began turning thicker and thicker until a pale white fog covered the area. The mist got thicker and thicker until you couldn't see anything farther than a foot in front of you. "Kirikagure no jutsu, success!" Naruto exclaimed happily. He was able to use this jutsu even without a water source nearby, by condensing the water vapor in the air. However in order for the mist to become think and cover a large area water nearby was necessary.

When the broad blanket of mist cleared, Naruto began making a different set of hand seals. "Mizu bunshin no jutsu," Naruto said aloud, and the water from the creek began rising upward, forming into the shape of ten exact copies of the Kyubi container. "Mizu bunshin no jutsu, success," the water clones chanted. Naruto then dispelled the clones, and they turned back into water. The blonde ninja found mizu bunshin no jutsu an easier technique to learn than kage bunshin no jutsu. Even though the water clones only had 1/10 of Naruto's strength, they could be made anywhere there was water, while shadow clones had to appear around the user. This could make the mizu bunshin more useful at times.

Naruto began forming another set of seals. "Suirou no jutsu." He held his hand out over the water, and the liquid began rising upward, slowly forming a shape of a large sphere around his hand. The water got thicker and more compacted, and by now was slowly swirling in the orb shape Naruto formed it into. The water prison needed a lot of focus, and at Naruto's level even if he was slightly distracted the sphere of water would be disrupted. Naruto also took a while to perform this jutsu, but that's only because he didn't perform it enough casually to make it in a matter of seconds. The technique needed a lot of practice to fully master.

The Kyubi container formed more seals and gathered a large amount of chakra together. The water rose up from the creek and began spinning in a ring shape at a fast pace in front of the blone shinobi. "Daibakufu no jusu!" Naruto yelled out, and unleashed all the concentrated chakra forward. The water ring erupted in a large explosion, the water forming a huge wave and racing across the creek. Once it reached the opposite bank of the small river the enormous wave crashed down into the earth, tearing up the soil and grass, and leveling a few trees in its path. Naruto smirked; this was his favorite jutsu due to its destructive power. However, the great waterfall technique needed a very large amount of chakra to be concentrated into a small area and then released, which made it fairly hard to perform. It also destroyed anything in its path and couldn't be used for just one target.

"Alright then, now this is the jutsu I have to master," Naruto muttered to himself as he formed the proper hand seals. "Suiryudan no jutsu!" Naruto bellowed out, focusing all his chakra into the creek in front of him. The water began swirling upward in the shape of a miniature tornado. It rabidly rose upward, growing larger and larger, and began to take the shape of a dragon. The dragon of water lurched forward, however before it made it to the other side of the creek it split in half. The large mass of water plummeted back down into the river, resulting in a giant splash. "Damn it!" Naruto cursed at his failure.

The water dragon technique not only needed a large amount of chakra, but also a large amount of chakra control. Once the water takes the form of the dragon, it needs to be controlled so it stays that way, and in order for the water dragon to home in and ram into its target, it constantly needs to have chakra controlling its movement. While Naruto can easily gather the large amount of chakra for the technique, he has a hard time controlling the movement of the water dragon, which results in the jutsu failing.

"I'll get it right this time!" Naruto redid the seals and concentrated on the chakra he was molding. "Suiryudan no jutsu!" The water began revolving upward again, forming into the shape of a fierce dragon. "Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, and forced the water dragon to lunge forward. The liquid dragon soared over the river, swerving from side to side like a snake. The giant mass of rabid water sailed over the bank of the creek, but lost its control and plummeted downward into the soft soil of the riverbank, tearing up the earth and making a small crater. Naruto sighed, he almost accomplished the jutsu that time, but he still failed.

"All right then, again." Naruto clasped his hands tightly together on the last seal and concentrated harder than before. The water towered into the air, taking the familiar shape of the dragon. Drizzle flew out from the base of the water dragon, spraying high into the air. The Kyubi container sent the dragon racing forward, but kept focusing on the chakra he was exerting with all his might. The liquid dragon zoomed over the creek at a fast pace, making it all the way across the stream. Naruto felt his control on the jutsu slipping, and the water dragon began slightly descending. "Must control it!" Naruto shouted out, and with his last bit of effort the dragon began rising back up, and rammed into the tree Naruto was aiming for. The entire tree trunk shattered into pieces and wood chunks flew high into the air. The base of the tree was uprooted and was sent sailing twenty feet away from its original location. The entire tree was obliterated from the sheer force of the jutsu.

The breathless Naruto smiled at his achievement. "Almost got it flawlessly that time," he panted.

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A group of four shinobi leaped through the trees, quickly making their way back to Konoha. The instructor of the team had a bowl haircut and huge bushy eyebrows. The strange man wore a green spandex along with a jounin vest. The person behind him was almost an exact replica, only much younger and was not wearing the green vest. The other two people consisted of a brunette girl with her hair tied into two buns and a boy with long black hair and eerie white eyes.

"Gai-sensei, we've been genin for almost a year now, I thought these worthless missions of hunting down people's run-away pets would stop," Tenten complained.

"Now Tenten, you still are genin after all, and besides, it's always a good deed to go and help out the village when it's in need!" Gai replied with a thumbs up.

"Gai sensei is right, helping the village is indeed a youthful and honorable deed!" Lee exclaimed.

Tenten sighed, a bit annoyed with the two "green beasts". Neji remained silent through the trip, not entering the conversation at all. Suddenly, Gai abruptly stopped jumping and his team came to a halt right behind him.

"Hey, Gai-sensei, why did we stop?" Tenten asked her instructor, but figured it out when she looked forward. Slightly in front of them a blonde boy in orange clothes was standing on a creek, forming the water in front of him into the shape of a giant dragon.

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The water dragon clashed into yet another tree, doing more damage to this one than the last.

"Yeah, finally mastered it! Practice does make perfect after all," Naruto smirked. "I should perform it one more time just to make sure I got it down, though." He began the jutsu yet again.

As the water dragon took shape Naruto heard something out of the corner of his ear. "Hey, Gai-sensei, why did we stop?" The startled blonde ninja looked up, to find a group of ninjas in the tree a short distance away from him.

'Shit!' In a split second Naruto searched through his weapon pouch until he found a smoke bomb. He quickly flicked it at the ground, and it exploded into an enormous cloud of purple smoke. By the time the smoke cleared from the area Naruto was long gone.

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The purple smoke spread through the area, and soon began disappearing. The blonde boy was nowhere in sight by now.

"Gai-sensei, who was that?" Lee asked.

"I'm not sure, he had a Konoha headband, but that jutsu is not from Konoha…" Gai pondered. "It was also very advance."

"Yosh! Seems like there could be a new rival for me!" Lee exclaimed.

"That's the spirit my young student!" Gai cried back.

"Can we please just get going now?" Neji questioned, obviously not one bit amused with the two green-clad ninjas.

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Naruto rushed back to the village, now casually walking through the streets. The Kyubi container walked through the town, bearing an overconfident smirk and crossing his arms behind his head. By now the sun had just set, and the sky was quickly getting dark and murky. The streets were rather deserted, most people were already in their homes by now. The few vile stares Naruto did get didn't bother him, and he easily ignored them as he proceeded on his way. In a few minutes the orange-clad ninja was standing in front of his apartment, and with a turn of the doorknob he stepped into his crap-shack. He didn't even bother to lock his home; nothing valuable was inside and robbing his house would just be a waste of time for the burglar.

Naruto stepped into his messy and undersized living quarters. His entire home consisted of two small rooms, three if you counted the bathroom. One room was the bedroom. In the very right corner was Naruto's old bed, as shitty as it may have been it still gave him a good night's sleep. A large cabinet was situated against the back wall of the room, containing Naruto's clothes and other supplies, whatever they may be. Of course those supplies including dirty clothes, random scrolls and books also loitered the floor, almost obscuring the dirty carpet from view. Across the room from the bed was the door to the bathroom, which contained a sink, toilet, and petite shower. The other tiny room in Naruto's home was the kitchen. It contained an old stove and rusted fridge which sat next to each other against the wall. In the middle of the room was a small coffee table barely two people could sit at and still be comfortable. On the left side of the room there was a sink and a small cabinet which was attached to the wall, holding the food Naruto had that didn't need to be refrigerated.

The blonde ninja walked into his kitchen, the frame separating the two rooms didn't even have a door. He opened the cabinet and pulled out one of the last few remaining instant ramen cups. Naruto looked at the flavor. "Shrimp," he said dully to himself. He then pulled out a teapot and turned on the sink, letting the water run into the container. He put the teapot on top of the stove and after a few tries a flame emitted below the appliance, thus heating the water. When the familiar noise of the teapot "shrieking" filled his ears, Naruto turned off the stove and proceeded to pour the boiling water onto his noodles. The blonde ninja found a fork, and after waiting a minute to let his ramen cool, he began eating it. Sure he liked the taste of ramen, but the main reason he bought it was because it was very cheap. Naruto gulped down his meal in silence, but since he lived alone he was used to it. Sometimes he often talked to himself just so the atmosphere wouldn't feel as lonely.

When he finished eating his noodles, Naruto tossed the fork into the sink and threw the ramen cup into the trashcan under the table. He strode into his bedroom and flopped onto his creaky bed. He put his arms behind his head and stared at the dreary white ceiling, letting his mind wander freely.

"Too bad my training session was interrupted and ended early today," Naruto said to himself. "Really woulda liked to keep training a bit more." Saying the thought aloud didn't seem to faze the shinobi out of his stupor. Naruto could stand being lonely, but one thing he couldn't stand was being bored. And being lonely and bored at the same time was just too much to handle for the blonde nin.

"Gotta be something I can work on in here… gotta think…" Naruto pondered allowed, scratching the back of his head. The blonde ninja rubbed his chin, searching his mind on what kind of training he could practice in his house. A light bulb seemed to go off in Naruto's mind. "Hey, I can try and go visit that bastard fox!" he exclaimed.

A few days after Naruto's discovery of the Kyubi no Kitsune residing within him, he tried to see if there was anyway he could use it to his advantage. After many hours of focusing and random attempts at chakra molding, he somehow found himself in a slightly flooded dark chamber. That was where he first met the fox, and established the deal that the nine-tails would lend him chakra. Ever since then, he hasn't "visited" the bijuu.

Naruto sat up on the bed and crossed his legs. The blonde ninja closed his eyes and began concentrating all his energy. He wasn't exactly sure how he would be able to get into the Kyubi chamber, but he did something similar to this last time. Naruto focused his mind and his chakra and let it spread equally throughout his whole body. He tried to envision the prison of the Kyubi in his inner eye. Still nothing was happening, and Naruto began getting annoyed. Several minutes passed, and still no results.

"Damn it, maybe if I try focusing on the seal…" Naruto put his hands together and began focusing everything he had onto the seal on his stomach. He shut his eyes tight and tried to concentrate, and formed the picture of the demon fox in his mind.

The world went dim, and before Naruto could realize what happened he was falling through pitch black darkness. The blonde ninja felt his body stop moving and looked up. He was in a familiar sinister corridor. The ground was covered in several inches of water, and dripping echoed through the narrow passageway. The walls were an eerie green color, and almost seemed to glow. Naruto picked himself up and began to walk forward slowly. Even though he was here once before the place still gave him the creeps. A faint growling could be heard, and the blonde ninja followed the noise, which led him to a bright passage that he willingly walked through.

He was met with the sight of a huge cage, towering hundreds of feet into the air. Behind the bars he could make out the shape of enormous eyes and a mouth that belonged to no human. The eyes were bright red, the color of blood, and had slits for pupils. Malevolence swirled within those fierce eyes. The mouth had long sharp teeth and was curled upward into an evil smirk.

"**Hey brat, what the hell are you doing here?" **the Kyubi roared, its breath smelling foully of corrosion.

"Hello, Kyubi," Naruto said, pushing his fear of the monster back inside of him. He still couldn't help but shiver under its wicked gaze.

"**Cut the casual shit, you fucking brat! Why the hell are you here? I already let you borrow my chakra, don't tell me you have gotten even more goddamn spoiled and want something else!" **the nine-tailed demon fox snarled.

The blonde shinobi gulped in response and tried not to loose eye contact with the demon. "I was kinda wondering… Do demons know jutsus…?"

The massive claws of the bijuu clashed against the gate, making the blonde ninja back up a few steps. "**What the fuck are you babbling on about?"**

"Well, are demons like you able to do ninjutsu like ninjas?"

"**We fucking can do whatever we want, of course we know some jutsu of you're inferior kind, its not that hard to pick up!" **the Kyubi answered. **"Why the fuck are you asking me this, weakling?"**

Naruto mustered all his courage and asked aloud, "You think you could teach me a jutsu or two?"

"**Ahahahaha!" **the Kyubi let out an ear piercing laugh. **"Me? Teach a shit like you a jutsu? You've have to be fucking joking!" **the Kyubi cackled.

"Hey, I'm serious about this!" Naruto yelled out.

"**Bahahahahahah!"**

"Hey you fucking fox, I'm not messing around here!" the blonde shinobi shouted back, louder than he expected himself too.

The Kyubi no Kitsune put its face right up against the cage and let out deafening roar, the power of it almost sent Naruto flying backwards. **"You've got guts, talking to me like that, you fucking twerp!"**

"Give me an answer fox, can you teach me something or not?"

"**Of course I could teach you something. But why in the hell would I want to?" **the nine-tails replied. **"Now get the fuck out of here!"**

"Hey, hey! Can't we have some sort of negotiation?" Naruto pleaded.

"**Hahahaha! What the hell could you offer me, brat?" **the bijuu sneered.

"Well… I don't know, there must be something I can do that you want!"

"**Hm… I tell you what, kid. You rip of the seal on this cage, and I will teach you all the jutsu I know!"**

"You really think I'm stupid enough to do that?"

"**Hey, you humans are some of the most idiotic things on this planet!"**

"Well, there has to be some sort of negotiation we could make…"

"**Heh, I think I've got something. Ok fucking brat, listen up! I haven't heard screams of pain or fear since I've been sealed here. I miss seeing all that blood, the flesh…" **the Kyubi reminisced. Its mouth curled upward into a very disturbing smirk. **"Go ruthlessly kill somebody, but first torture them! I want to hear the screams of pain, I want to see the blood!" **an evil glint appeared in the fox's eye. **"You do that, and I'll teach you a jutsu."**

Naruto crossed his arms and thought about it for a second. "Ok fox, you've got a deal then!"

"**Now get the fuck out of here!" **and with those threatening words, a huge wall of crimson chakra rushed at Naruto sending him sailing backwards.

The Kyubi container opened his yes. He was sitting on his bed, back in his apartment. "Alright, so I have to murder somebody… It doesn't sound too hard," he said to himself. Naruto scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up. "The bastard fox better keep his word."

The orange-clad shinobi ran out of his house and ran into the village. He jumped onto the roof of a house and began leaping from one building to the other. As Naruto soared over the establishments of Konoha he searched the streets and alleyways of a potential victim. It was already nighttime and the streets were almost bare of any people. He zoomed over the town keeping his gaze focused on the ground, like a hawk searching for its prey.

"Bingo!" Naruto exclaimed to himself, as he found his target. A dark-haired man was slumped against the wall of an alleyway, a beer bottle in his hand. His clothes were torn and dirty. Naruto jumped down onto the street, he was only a few feet away from the man. On further inspection you could tell the man was drunk, and if he had a home it was much worse than Naruto's. His hair was ragged, and he had a pungent odor that didn't just derive from the alcohol he was consuming.

The orange-clad ninja strode toward the drunken man, bumping harshly into him as he passed. The man stood up from his slump position and pointed his finger at Naruto.

"Hey, what the hell are ya doing?" the drunkard yelled. He was having a hard time balancing on his feet and slightly slurred his words. Naruto turned around and faced the man.

"You! You're the fucking demon boy!" he yelled accusingly.

'This is going to be easier than I assumed,' the blonde shinobi thought.

"Well ya piece of demon shit, are you gonna… are you gonna apologize to me or not?" the rugged man asked, you could tell that he was feeling dizzy and drank too much alcohol.

Naruto replied to the man by smirking at him.

"Well, where's my goddamn apology you fucker?"

Naruto spat at the man's feet, the saliva landing on the person's worn-out shoe. "You're pathetic. You really think I'll apologize to the likes of you?"

You could tell the man was enraged, his brow furrowed and he literally snarled at the orange-clad ninja. "What the fuck did ya say to me, demon boy? I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" The enraged drunkard rushed at Naruto, beer bottle in hand, ready to strike the blonde ninja on the head. As he swung the glass bottle, the Kyubi container ducked and it whizzed right over his head. Naruto delivered a massive punch right to the man's gut, and a stream of blood squirted from his mouth. The drunk male then slumped to the ground and was still. He blacked out from the force of the punch.

"Lucky I found someone like you, I don't think anybody will look for you and nobody will miss you," Naruto said to the unconscious man lying next to his feet. "And now to take you somewhere where your screams can't be heard." The blonde ninja holstered the man onto his shoulder and began bounding towards the forest located right outside of the village.

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As the man began coming to his senses, the first thing he noticed is that he was being held in place by something. His arms were against his sides and he was sitting down, leaning against a wall or tree trunk perhaps.

'Musta gotten really drunk again,' was the first thought that came to his mind. However when he opened his eyes, everything was still pitch black. He was blindfolded. "Hey! What the hell is going on? Where am I?" he yelled, hoping somebody would hear him.

Naruto stood in front of the tree he had tied the person to. The orange-clad ninja was twirling a kunai in his hand; he was waiting for the man to wake up. Now that he had, Naruto could begin his little "torture session". He had tied the man to the tree with rope so he would be unable to move and blindfolded him with a simple cloth. Since Kyubi wanted the screams to be heard, the blonde ninja didn't gag the man. However Naruto was pretty far way from Konoha so the yells and cries of the man wouldn't be heard by others.

'Alright, it's showtime!' Naruto though. He wasn't going to let blood and flesh bother him. He was a ninja after all. And he wouldn't feel bad about killing this man. Sure, it was monstrous and inhumane, but so was the way the villagers treated him. 'It's fair, right?' the Kyubi container reasoned in his mind. He then just decided to put the thoughts behind him and proceed with his plan.

The blonde ninja moved the kunai over the man's pinky finger, letting the cold metal touch the skin, and without hesitation put pressure on the blade, and it cut cleanly downward.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!" the hostage let out a shrill yell, as his finger was severed from his hand. Naruto felt a tad bit of pity for the man, but pushed his emotions backward; ninjas shouldn't give in so easily. The orange-clad shinobi cut off the next finger in line, blood spurted onto the grass, staining it red. "I beg of you please stop! Stop! Aaaaagh!" the man pleaded, but Naruto droned out the man's screams. He continued to severe the rest of the fingers on the hand, and then moved on to the next one. By now quite a large amount of blood was surrounding the man's hands and his screams were the loudest yet.

To ignore the man's begging was a hard task for Naruto, but he managed. 'It's payback, payback for all the hate I received, its fair. The way I was treated, this justifies it. I'm not doing anything wrong…' the Kyubi container thought. He pulled out several senbon needles from the inside of his jacket. He grasped one in his hand, and plunged it into the man's gut. The thin piece of metal easily tore into the man's skin and through his flesh. As the senbon imbedded itself deep in the hostage's body, he let out another shriek, and was still begging for mercy. 'It's totally fine. My actions are righteous, this drunkard is better off dead anyway. I'm not doing anything wrong. Nothing wrong. Nope, I'm definitely not doing anything wrong. It's totally fair and called for," the blonde ninja kept repeating these thoughts in his mind. Naruto's doubt of the actions he was performing was slowly starting to fade away. Sliding three more needles between his fingers, the blonde impaled the man with one swift strike. Not stopping there, more needles were propelled into the man's body, a tortured scream coming from the hostage with every new senbon. And with every new needle plunged into the man's flesh, Naruto's hesitation and pity he was feeling left him. Soon he was being excited by the shrill yells, and was enticed with continuing the torture.

"Please stop! I beg of you, I'll do anything! Just stop, please!" the man wailed desperately. Tears from the pain had soaked the blindfold and by now were making their way down the male's face.

'He deserves it! The beatings they gave me, the pain they caused! This doesn't even begin to justify their torture!' Naruto's eyes shined with malice, a feral and insane grin on his face. 'You'll pay for it!'

The Kyubi container took out the very familiar scroll and summoned the head chopping cleaver. He gripped the handle and lifted the massive blade high into the air. 'You'll pay for what you did to me! You'll be the victim of my revenge,' and with that thought Naruto swung the sword downward, the Kubikiri Houcho cleanly slicing through the man's flesh and bone. The blonde shinobi had sliced the hostage's leg off, right below the knee. A deafening yell of agony accompanied the torrent of blood that spewed from the severed body part. Some of the crimson liquid stained Naruto's clothes and sprayed onto his face. The downpour of red droplets was beginning to cover the surrounding area.

"I'm not done yet! You shunned me, you beat me, you sabotaged everything I had, some of you tried to kill me! You whispered threats, you shouted insults! Die you motherfucking bitches!" Naruto shouted aloud, and swung the blood stained sword down once again. A sick sound of flesh shredding and bone breaking echoed through the air, and now the other leg was severed from its host. The scream of torment hadn't stopped from the man and now more blood than ever spurted out from the injuries; it covered the ground and hid the color of the green grass underneath from view.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" the man screamed at the top of his lungs, and his body lurched and shook violently due to him not being able to handle the severe pain.

"Every day, more pain more agony." Naruto said with a snarl. He thrust the sword into the hostage's shoulder, not enough to severe the arm, but enough for the metal blade to pierce the bone.

More blood.

"My life was hell." The Kubikiri Houcho tore through the man's other arm.

More blood. The red fluid was like a raging fountain, pouring and gushing.

"Each night I cried in the corner of my room." The cleaver pierced through the torso, easily perforating the man's right lung. He couldn't even scream properly anymore due to the blood in his mouth. He was choking on the red liquid in his throat.

More blood. It kept coming, as if it was never-ending.

"And it's all because I am the one who saved your goddamn asses!" The blade slid through the man's body, its tip coming out from the other end. He was dead. He was dead even before the sword pierced its way through him. He died choking on his own blood. The huge cleaver was pulled out, by now almost every inch of it was crimson.

The man was dead, but the blood kept coming.

Naruto's eyes widened, as he abruptly let go of the handle, and the Kubikiri Houcho fell to the ground. The blonde shinobi looked at his hands. They were red, completely soaked in blood. His orange clothes were mostly crimson by now as well. Naruto kept looking at his hands, and soon began trembling. His hands were furiously shaking, and he couldn't make them stop. He grabbed his head so hard that his nails pierced the skin. Tears streaked down his face. And then, he screamed.

The minutes passed. The Kyubi container sat on the blood covered ground, his hands gripping the soil tightly. His gaze was focused on the cloudy dark sky above him, and he ignored the gory body a few feet away from him.

"I…" he began, "I killed him. And tortured him. And… I liked it." Naruto was scared. Scared of himself, scared of what he was. "I took out all my pain on him… I wanted him to suffer…" He began sobbing uncontrollably. "Who the fuck am I?"

He bit his own lip, making it bleed. And he began laughing, he didn't know why, but he laughed. It wasn't a laugh of amusement, in fact it was a laugh void of all emotion. "I guess I'm a lot cruder than I thought. Heh, hehehehehe… I can't even fucking control myself or my emotions!" Naruto swiped his hand through his blonde locks. "Hahaha! Hahahahahah! I am so fucking pathetic!" The orange-clad ninja held out his hand in front of him. He clenched it into a fist and then re-opened it. A high pitched laugh left his mouth, and it continued for quite a while. "I think I am so fucking unstable right now," he snickered.

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After a few hours, Naruto was able to return to his normal demeanor, and the insanity that overtook him a short while ago was almost completely out of his system. The blonde ninja had decided that he would get over the experience and eventually it would become unimportant and he would forget it. It was the first time he had murdered anybody in cold blood; the experience just shook him up a bit. "I'm such a retard, can't even kill anybody without fucking myself over about it."

The body and severed parts of the dead man were dragged and dumped into a nearby river, in courtesy of Naruto. Wild animals would likely have eaten the body before it was found, but the Kyubi container didn't feel like taking a chance. The trip back to the village and his apartment was rather swift and Naruto kept silent the entire time. It was lucky that nobody spotted him, his blood covered clothes and body would raise some questions.

As he opened the apartment door, he stripped out of his outfit and threw it onto the floor. Naruto quickly made his way into the bathroom and took of his boxers and threw them onto the cold tile. He stepped into the shower and turned it on immediately. The cold streams of water fell onto his face, and dampened his hair. Slowly the blood washed off of him, trickling its way off his body. The blonde stood in the shower for almost an hour with his eyes closed, not moving a single muscle. He let the running water do all the work for him.

He stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and instantly plopped himself onto the bed. "OK, might as well. This is the whole reason I did this after all," he said to himself.

Focusing all his chakra onto the seal and thinking of traveling to the Kyubi's domain instantly took him there. He walked through the chamber into the large room that contained the caged fox.

"Alright bastard fox, I did what you asked of me!" Nauto shouted aloud.

The nine-tailed demon showed its face from behind the cage, it bore a large smirk. **"You actually enjoyed torturing him, that was an unexpected treat! You might not be as bad as I originally thought."**

"Shut the fuck up about that," Naruto threatened, not even slightly afraid of the Kyubi.

"**Did I touch a nerve with that? Are you ashamed for being so vile and coldhearted? Ahahahahahahaha! You really are pathetic after all!" **the fox cackled.

"I said shut it."

"**Remember who you're talking to here you inferior human!"**

"Look, I fulfilled the requirement alright? Now we had a deal!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"**I don't remember any deal,"** the demon said casually.

"You fucking-" the blonde ninja began but was interrupted.

"**Hah, just kidding! You puny humans get worked up so easily, pathetic!" **the Kyubi snorted.

Naruto growled under his breath but it ended up being rather loud anyway.

"**I may be the most powerful and hated demon of them all, but I keep my word. So fucking twerp, what kind of jutsu do you want to learn?"**

Naruto sighed in relief that the bijuu kept the deal. "Well… something that would come in handy would be along the lines of…"

**Closing Notes: **Yeah, the second half of this chapter really showed off Naruto's darker nature, and also how unstable he really is. Everybody thank you for the reviews I have received so far, and thanks for reading the second chapter. The chapter was more for showing Naruto's current skills and his mental instability, but next chapter I'm hoping to get the chuunin exams going, so I hope you will be looking forward to that.

I try to leave a review for every story I read, and it would be really nice I you could do the same, it really does help the author. Anyway, till next time, thanks again!


	3. Chapter 3

**Blood-Stained Kubikiri**

…**Chapter Three…**

**Note From Me: **Alright, I've realized, I am a slow slow updater, and I'll try to overcome this problem with all my might. But hey, I got chapter three out, and I'm happy about it. Chapter four is already half done, since originally I was going to make them one chapter, but then realized it would be too long, and that I really should update. You'll find this is the chapter where the story will actually start progressing, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you're reactions, so leave a review. Also, next chapter things will really start to get interesting, so make sure to stay tuned.

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Nearly two weeks have passed since Naruto's deal with the demon fox had been fulfilled. The Kyubi did stick with its words, and taught its host the jutsu, as promised. But the blonde ninja couldn't admit the bijuu was a good teacher, far from it. The fox told him the required hand seals, how to channel the chakra, and a brief description of the technique itself. When Naruto asked for clarification, the demon simply snarled at him, and told him that it kept its part of the deal.

If the orange clad boy didn't have a scroll nearby to write everything down before he forgot it, his rather unpleasant torture session would have been all for nothing. Naruto made a mental note to himself, that if he ever would strike a deal with the nine-tailed fox again, he would be much more careful when deciding on the "contract".

However, Naruto also learned that making deals with the Kyubi was well worth it. The promised jutsu wasn't anything basic or useless. If mastered, it would help out in battle an enormous amount. But this ninja technique was extremely complex, and the blonde shinobi had been practicing it ever since. It frustrated him to no end that he was unable to master it. When he thought he had it, the jutsu would be disrupted, and the boy wouldn't even be able to figure out what factor he messed up in. His only guess was that it needed tremendous concentration and chakra control.

Other than trying to perfect his previous jutsus and trying to learn his new one, nothing else took up Naruto's time. This actually intrigued the orange clad ninja a slight bit. Normally, his team would meet up twice a week, once to receive a mission, and the other to practice and train. However the training with his team was anything but satisfying, how anybody could get stronger from it he still couldn't figure out. Naruto wished he could just skip it every single time.

But it was almost the second week in a row that Naruto had not received any notice from his team whatsoever. Not that it was a bad thing, he was happy with the sudden change. But it was still very irregular, and didn't make sense to the blonde ninja. He tried to ignore it, it was easily possible that his teacher got his own mission and didn't tell them about it. Or perhaps he just wanted to take a break. It seemed like a thing Hatake Kakashi would do, cancel a team meeting to read his pornographic novels. He was several hours late for every single meeting they had so far, after all.

So in short, the passing days had been really well for Naruto. He could train with no hindrances, and didn't have to meet up with his team (which he obviously wasn't very fond of).

Currently, the boy was walking back to his apartment. He had just emerged from the forest where he trained; his clothes were ripped and ragged. Most of his body was scathed and dirty, but his cuts were already starting to heal due to the regeneration the Kyubi provided him with. His hands had a few calices from wielding the Kubikiri Houcho so much. Naruto decided it would be best if he went and bought some gloves. He was still panting and trying to catch his breath from his over excessive training.

"If you don't take yourself past your limits, you'll never improve!" Naruto smirked to himself. It was a little saying he believed in. He dragged his ragged and worn body through the streets of the village, finally stopping at his usual eating spot. He entered the Ichiraku Ramen stand, and sat down in a seat. He swung his elbows onto the counter and hunched over. It was obvious the boy was exhausted.

"Hello Naruto. Training hard today as well, I see?" the owner asked. He had just emerged from the kitchen and spotted the orange clad ninja waiting to order.

"Yup, old man! I need to get stronger," the boy replied, and smiled back. He didn't have to put on a mask or pretend to be happy at Ichiraku Ramen. The people there accepted him, and never treated him different from anyone else. Naruto didn't know why this place was so nice to him, but he enjoyed it. At times they almost treated him like family. If it wasn't for him finding this peculiar ramen stand, his hate for the village would have probably overwhelmed him long ago.

"So, what will my number one customer have today?"

"Four bowls of the usual should do," replied the Kyubi container.

"Alright then, coming right up! Since you caught me in a good mood, I'll give you twenty percent off!" the owner winked at him.

"Heh, thanks old man!"

"No problem, Naruto."

Mr. Ichiraku stepped into the kitchen behind the counter and began preparing Naruto's order. The blonde shinobi sometimes wished he could spend the whole day at the ramen stand. It was one place he felt welcomed at no matter what the situation was. Perhaps that's why he ended up eating so much, just so he could stick around longer. Thank god he had a fast metabolism.

A steaming bowl of pork ramen was placed on the counter in front of the tired boy. Naruto instantly grabbed a pair of chopsticks and split them in half.

"The rest of your ramen should be coming up soon," the owner smiled.

"Alright, thanks," and without further ado, the blonde ninja dug into his meal, devouring it quickly, but still savoring the taste. He couldn't help it, when he was hungry, he could forget all his eating manners.

Eventually, Naruto finished eating all of the ramen he ordered, and paid the bill. He stood up from his seat and patted his full stomach.

"Thanks old man, delicious as always," he complimented.

"Of course it is! Well, see you soon Naruto," the owner replied.

Before the orange clad ninja could turn around an begin walking away, the owner's daughter, Ayame, came out from the kitchen.

"Thanks for eating here, Naruto!" she called out.

"Of course, Ayame-nechan. I wouldn't think of eating anywhere else," he replied.

"See you next time, Naruto. Keep that training up," the owner chuckled.

"Heh, of course!"

The Kyubi container then began the short walk back to his apartment. A meal at Ichiraku's never failed to cheer him up. He soon reached his home, and was rather surprised at seeing a note pinned to his door. He took it into his hand and looked over it.

"_Naruto, tomorrow meet up at the bridge at nine in the morning. It's quite important, so try not to miss it._

_-Hatake Kakashi"_

"So, there's finally a team meeting, huh?" Naruto asked aloud. "Wonder what's so important about it." The blonde ninja swung open his door and walked inside. A shower would definitely do him good.

THE NEXT DAY

It was a warm and sunny morning, the usual weather condition in Konoha. Naruto was slowly walking toward his team's meeting spot. As the familiar red bridge came into view, he could make out the faint shapes of Sakura and Sasuke. He began running toward his teammates, soon halting right in front of them.

"Good morning Sakura-chan!" the orange clad boy yelled, sporting a forced grin. He then turned his attention to the brooding Uchiha. "Hmph, Sasuke!"

The black haired boy grunted back in annoyance.

'Geez, these two are always acting like this,' Sakura though, and let out a sigh.

"Kakashi-sensei still isn't here?" Naruto asked.

"Nope, he's late yet again," Sakura huffed, annoyed with the copy nin's habit. "I wish he could just tell us to come later instead of making us wait for so long! I didn't even have a chance to blow dry my hair!"

"Yeah, yeah! You're right, Sakura-chan!" the blonde shinobi enthusiastically agreed. He let out a sigh, Sakura did have a point, if their teacher is the one who calls them to meet he shouldn't be late.

Nearly an hour past, and time wasn't flying by. It slowly crept along, seeming to take forever. Team seven was overcome with a wave of boredom during the long wait for their teacher. Naruto could barely handle it, he was just about to leave, however that's when he felt a presence coming.

A cloud of smoke appeared on the red railing of the bridge, and when it dissipated, a masked silver haired jounin was standing on the railing.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late, this lady needed help with her groceries-" Kakashi was cut off by Sakura and Naruto.

"LIAR!" they both shouted at the copy nin.

Kakashi then put on a serious face, and jumped down from the railing, standing in front of his team. However, before he could begin speaking, Naruto asked him a question.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, what's so important about this meeting? Do we have some big urgent mission!?" the blonde boy pretended to be excited.

"That's what I was about to tell you. The thing is I recommended all of you for the chuunin selection exam, so… Here take these applications." The masked jounin pulled out three slips of paper and handed them to his team.

"Chuunin exam?" Sakura asked, surprised.

"However, the application does not force you to take it. You can decide if you want to take it or not," Kakashi continued.

"Sweet! Thank you, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted and threw his hands into the air. He was actually very excited about this, a chance to raise his rank, what could be better. He would finally be able to do difficult missions and if he was lucky he could even be placed on a new team.

"Alright, calm down, Naruto. If you want to take it, go to room 301 at the school, five days from now. The test will begin there at three in the afternoon," Kakashi explained.

"Hehe, chuunin exam, chuunin exam," Naruto grinned, and looked down at the application he held tightly in his hand.

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Naruto walked through the now somewhat familiar chamber. He found it a bit strange that it was even more flooded that the last time he was here. The water was a few inches deeper, and seemed to have turned a darker color, if that was even possible. The blonde boy strolled through the oddly lit passageways, now being quite familiar with the area. Before long he had reached his destination.

"Yo demon fox, how about another proposition?" the orange clad ninja asked casually.

The Kyubi glared at him from behind the enormous cage, its eyes flared in anger and its teeth bared. **"A weakling like you shouldn't have this informal attitude while talking to such a superior being," **the bijuu grimaced.

"Sorry, all-powerful Kyubi-sama, I was just in a good mood," Naruto replied sarcastically.

"**If you think I'm going to make a deal with you know you're dead wrong you little shit," **the agitated nine tailed fox replied.

"Alright, alright, I apologize. Seriously though, there's an exam coming up, and I might have a chance to spill some blood, and that probably won't come again for a while," Naruto explained. By now he had lost fear of the Kyubi, there was no way it could reach him behind the sealed cage. It was illogical to fear something that was unable to harm you.

"**You're such an annoying brat! I'm starting to regret I ever made a deal with you to start with."**

"So c'mon, will you teach me another jutsu if I… you know, kill a person?"

The bijuu let out an iniquitous laugh. **"You aren't the one who makes deals around here."**

"Then you propose a deal," Naruto said, getting annoyed with the demon's antics.

"**How about instead of teaching you a jutsu, I'll tell you how to do something you'll like for sure. In exchange, you kill as many people as you can during this exam you spoke about," **the Kyubi offered.

"What the hell!?" the orange clad shinobi couldn't hold back his outburst. The fox's conditions were just simply absurd. "You expect me to agree to that!?"

"**So you little shit, do we have a deal?"**

"Of course not! What is it that you will teach me anyway?"

"**That's a surprise," **the Kyubi chuckled.

"Screw this then! It's fucking ridiculous," Naruto muttered, turned around, and began walking away, shaking his head annoyance.

"**You can choose not to accept it, but just know. We wont ever have any of these deals again, brat," **the demon said smugly.

Naruto abruptly turned back around. "Bastard!"

"**Yes, aren't I?" **the Kyubi cackled maliciously. **"So what will it be, hurry up and decide."**

"You can't be serious!"

"**I would think that you would know this already, I don't play nice."**

The blonde shinobi looked at the ground and closed his eyes, pondering about what he should do. He clenched his fist, and looked back up at the nine tailed fox. "Fine."

5 DAYS LATER

Naruto slid the orange gloves over his hands, they fit tightly, just the way he preferred it. On them was a red swirl, just like on the back of his orange jacket. The Kyubi container put that on next, over his black shirt, but left it hanging open rather then zipping it. He then grasped the new pair of pants he had bought that were lying on the bed. His old pants were constricting, he had outgrown them a while ago, hence why they didn't even go all the way down his legs. These pants were black, matching his shirt, and had a vast array of pockets for holding scrolls and weapons. The blonde shinobi put them on, and was all set to leave the house. However, he nearly forgot to grab his headband. Instead of binding it around his head as normal, the boy decided to wrap it around his arm, right below his shoulder. "Heh, now let this exam begin!"

The weather was average for Konoha, warm and sunny with a small amount of clouds in the sky. It seemed like an average day, but for many shinobi, especially Naruto, it was one of the most important days of their lives. The chuunin exam had finally arrived. Naruto bolted out of the door, sprinting through the village. He rushed through the village, appearing only as a black and orange blur to onlookers. As the academy school came into view, the boy slowed down to a jog.

He passed the wooden gate that surrounded the school, and found his two teammates waiting for him right by the entrance. A few other ninja were standing right outside the entrance as well, probably waiting for their teams also. "Yo Sakura-chan, Sasuke!" the blonde boy waved to his teammates as he approached them.

The two genin turned toward Naruto, and were caught by surprise, not expecting his sudden change of attire. "What's with the fashion change, dobe?" Sasuke asked, his eyebrow slightly raised.

"Well, hehe, actually, I couldn't find my orange pants this morning… I kinda forgot to do my laundry, so these were the only pants I could find lying around," the blonde shinobi replied as he scratched the back of his head and put on a goofy smile.

Sasuke and Sakura gave a puzzled glare at Naruto, but took his words as truth anyway. After all, the Naruto they knew was a hyperactive klutz, and was known for antics like these.

"I have to say though, that style looks a lot better on you. You're not completely a traffic cone any longer, but you still have to get rid of that orange jacket," Sakura commented.

"Yeah, sure," Naruto responded, not really listening to the pink haired girl. "But guys, the chuunin exam has finally begun! Let's go, I can't wait to breeze through it!"

"Next time try to make it on time, you're nearly half an hour late, you could flunk the exam just by being late," the Uchiha said arrogantly.

"Eh, sorry, I told you I couldn't find my clothes!" Naruto whined.

"Fine, fine, let's just get going," the black haired boy responded.

Naruto smiled widely, and cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this!"

However, Sakura didn't have nearly as much enthusiasm as her teammates. The kunoichi seemed tense and fidgety. "R-right, let's go."

It was obvious for Naruto the girl was nervous, probably realizing that her skill was inferior to everyone else. Of course maybe if she trained every once in a while that wouldn't be the case. The blonde ninja peered over at Sasuke, he could also tell Sakura wasn't confident about this exam. The group of three proceeded into the school, making their way up the stairs.

The halls were crowded with shinobi, forcing the ninjas to shove and push each other to get to the entrance of the class. These nin were from many villages, obvious due to the foreign attire many of them were wearing. However, the vast majority of ninja were still Konoha shinobi. Everyone appeared to be circling one room, yells and shouts could be heard, and there was a vast amount of commotion.

A kid with a bowl haircut clad in a green spandex and bearing enormous eyebrows was sent flying to the ground. Two other shinobi in grey robes with giant kunai strapped to their backs were standing in front of the door, blocking it from the chuunin exam nominees. One had band-aids all over his face, while the other wore a blue beanie over his head.

"You're trying to take the exam with that kind of level?" the amused nin asked the beaten boy who was being helped up by his teammate.

"Maybe you should just quit," the other nin remarked. "You're still just kids."

"Please let us through," the girl who helped the green clad boy asked kindly. She wore a pink vest and had her dark brown hair tied into buns. She was knocked back as well with a punch from the two opposing nin, and fell to the ground.

"How cruel," someone commented, which was followed by a lot of mumbling.

"What did you say? Listen here, we're being kind to you. The chuunin selection exam is extremely difficult," the ninja with band-aids explained.

"We have seen those who gave up on being ninja or became seriously injured because of this exam," the one who was wearing a beanie added. As he was talking, team seven had pushed through the crowd and approached the two nin. "A chuunin is a commander of a squad. It's the commander's responsibility for failing any missions and the death of the subordinates. And to think these kids are trying to…"

"What's wrong with sifting out those who aren't going to pass anyway?" the other shinobi who was guarding the door asked rhetorically.

"That's a sound argument, but I'll pass," Sasuke said arrogantly to the two ninja. "And undo this field you've created by using gengitsu. I want to go to the third floor."

"What's this guy talking about?" a shinobi from the crowd asked his teammate. He was answered with a shrug from his partner.

"Oh, you noticed?" the surprised guards asked.

"Sakura, how about you? You should've noticed first," the sharingan user asked.

"What?" the pink haired girl was caught by surprise.

"Your analysis skills and gengitsu know-how is the best in our squad," he explained.

Naruto understood what his teammate was trying to do. Sakura was obviously nervous about the exam, so Sasuke was attempting to boost her hopes and confidence so she wouldn't drag them down in the exam. Her skills were already mediocre, and if she was worried about the exam as well, their entire team could easily be put in jeopardy.

"Sasuke-kun…"

'Yup, she took the bait,' Naruto smirked.

"Of course, I've noticed it already, because this is the second floor," Sakura already sounded more confident and seemed focused on passing the exam.

"You're pretty good. But just being able to detect it isn't enough…" the ninja with band-aids said. Without warning, he dashed forward, launching a kick. Sasuke simultaneously moved in, firing a kick of his own.

Instead of the attacks connecting, they were stopped by the nin wearing a green spandex. He stood between the two fighters, holding their legs in place with ease. The crowd was shocked and silence followed. There was no way this kid was the same as the one who got smacked around earlier. He was tremendously fast.

'He stopped my kick?' Sasuke was frozen in place, startled by the skill of this kid. The bushy browed shinobi let go of their legs, and the two ninjas jumped backward.

"Hey you broke the promise," a white eyed shinobi with long black hair said, approaching the green clad boy. He was wearing a white shirt and black shorts. "You're the one who didn't want to gather attention by doing something that stands out." The white eyed ninja was followed by the girl with the pink vest and buns. It was easy to tell by now that the three were on a team.

"But…" the spandex boy looked at Sakura and his cheeks turned slightly red.

"She must be why," the brunette girl with buns in her hair said aloud, shaking her head from side to side in annoyance.

'The bruise he had is gone, it must have been a fake,' Sasuke thought, still analyzing the ninja with bushy eyebrows.

The said boy walked slowly in front of Sakura. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura-san, right?"

"Huh?" the pink haired girl was confused.

"Let's go out together, I will protect you until I die!" Lee yelled out, doing a thumbs up and having his teeth sparkle in the light.

'Wow… somebody is actually attracted to her,' Naruto thought, shaking his head in a disapproving manner.

Sakura was completely blown away by this revelation. "No way," she barely managed to utter.

"What?" Lee gasped, appearing completely devastated.

"You're too unique for my tastes," Sakura muttered, still shocked that such a weirdo would ask her out. The green clad boy sulked in depression at this.

The white eyed boy strolled over to Sasuke. "Hey, you there." The Uchiha turned to face his addresser. "What's your name," the white eyed boy asked bluntly.

"You're supposed to give your name before asking someone for theirs," Sasuke replied coolly.

"Hyuga Neji."

"Uchiha Sasuke," the sharingan user answered with a smirk.

By now Neji had caught Naruto out of the corner of his eye. He instantly recognized him as the boy that his team came across at the river. "And you," Neji asked, directing his attention to Naruto, "What's your name?"

Both Sakura and Sasuke were surprised at somebody taking attention to Naruto, he didn't seem to strike anyone as the intimidating type.

"Sorry Neji, I'm not into guys," the blonde boy brushed off the Hyuga with a wave of his hand. Tenten couldn't help but laugh at this; she grew even more amused as she saw the expression on Neji's face.

As team seven began walking away, Rock Lee appeared in front of them. "Wait! Uchiha Sasuke, will you fight me right here, right now?"

Both teams were surprised about this. 'Geez, we really don't have time for this, and currently I'm not too fond with seeing Sasuke get owned,' Naruto thought. From evaluating the expression on Sasuke's face, he could tell the Uchiha would get too overconfident and get beaten by the green clad boy. His strength was no pushover.

Before Sasuke could respond to the challenge, Naruto answered for him. "Look, were already running late, and so is your team. Besides, this is a chuunin exam, you'll get a chance to fight later, save it for then. And, uh… Lee, trying to show off before the exam even starts is quite arrogant," the blonde ninja said, knowing part of the reason Lee wanted to fight was to impress Sakura.

"Wow, Naruto, I didn't know you could reason like that," Sakura commented, very impressed by the orange clad boy.

"Uh, yeah! The great Naruto Uzumaki does it again!" Naruto shouted, trying to keep his cover, he almost slipped up to his teammates.

Sasuke seemed pissed off, but Lee was crying a trail of tears. "Naruto-kun, you're speech of reason and rationale has shown me the light! I have seen the error of my ways! And Uchiha Sasuke-kun, prepare yourself for the exam! Then, we shall get to fight," the bushy browed boy said, and then left with his team.

"Gees, that fuzzy eyebrow guy is weird…" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

"I can't believe he asked me out," Sakura murmured, her body shivering.

"What the hell was that, Naruto!?" the Uchiha boy yelled, angry at the actions of his teammate.

"Sasuke-teme, we really are running late! You said yourself, we could flunk the exam just because we were running late!" the blonde ninja countered.

"Fine," the black haired nin snapped, still upset that he didn't get to fight.

The three walked down the hall, and proceeded up the stairs. Naruto walked alongside his team with his hands behind his head. "Alright! Let's go!"

"Right!" Sakura shouted, also raising her fist into the air. Even Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, unable to contain his excitement. Team seven reached the third floor and entered the room where the first phase of the chuunin exam would take place.

They were greeted with the sight of a very massive classroom completely filled with many ninja, most of them appearing much older than they were. All these shinobi had turned their heads to look at the newcomers, who happened to be the members of team seven.

It was a rather intimidating greeting, and Sakura was greatly fazed by it. The fear in her eyes returned and she seemed nervous yet again. "What is this?" she gulped. "There are so many people, are they all taking the exam?" As the vast amount of shinobi stared back at her she grew even more uneasy. 'They all look strong…' she thought.

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!" Out of nowhere, the blonde girl known as Yamanaka Ino jumped onto Sasuke's back. "I've been eagerly waiting for you since I heard I could see you for the first time in such a long while."

'Ah geez, the other Sasuke freak,' Naruto thought to himself. 'This is going to get annoying.'

And just as the Kyubi container predicted, a fight broke out between Sakura and Ino. Naruto tried to tune it out as much as possible, the yammering of the two girls made him want to knock himself out.

Eventually, the whole rookie nine had met up, and Naruto was surrounded by blabbering morons. Things were just getting extremely stupid, this was supposed to be a test, not some kind of reunion. The blonde shinobi overheard Shino telling Chouji not to step on some bug. Shikamaru wouldn't stop complaining about how troublesome this test was, and Kiba was boasting as usual. The noise was getting harder and harder for Naruto to tune out. He clenched his fists in anger; it was just too goddamn annoying. It seemed the only thing he could do to stop this was yell out something stupid, and gather all the attention to him, which is exactly what he did.

The orange clad boy pointed his finger at all the ninja in the classroom and cockily bellowed out, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm not going to lose to any of you! Got that!?"

The negative vibes directed at Naruto were immense. However, before anybody could perform some sort of action a large cloud of smoke appeared at the front of the classroom. "Quiet down you punks!"

As the smoke cleared a man in a black robe could be seen, and behind him were many shinobi in grey uniforms. The man in black had two large scars on his face and wore a black beanie with the Konoha head protector imprinted onto it. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he spoke with a loud and deep voice. "I am the examiner for the first test of the chuunin selection exam, Morino Ibiki."

All heads were turned to him, and the shinobi waited for what he had to say in silence. "I might as well tell you this now. You are not allowed to fight each other during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if you are given permission, you are not allowed to kill each other. Anybody who goes against my word will fail immediately. Understood?" Ibiki explained to the examinees.

Many ninja appeared upset by this, looking mockingly at the examiners for the strict rules they have set up. Naruto was one of them. 'Shit, this blows.'

Morino Ibiki seemed unfazed by the commotion, expecting this reaction from most of them. "We will now begin the first test of the chuunin selection exam. Turn in your applications, take on of these number tags, and sit where the number tells you to," he said loudly, showing the class the tags in his hand. "Then we will pass out the papers for the written exam."

"A PAPER TEST!?" Naruto shouted out at the top of his lungs.

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All the shinobi were seated at a desk, with the test and a pencil lying in front of them. The examiners were sitting in chairs surrounding all the desks, almost completely encircling the examinees. Naruto was tapping his fingers on the desk nervously, he actually wasn't good at paper tests. He looked around him, he was seated close to the front of the class at the edge of the desk, with his teammates seated far behind him. The person sitting next to him was a strange red haired boy with dark rings under his eyes. On his back was a large gourd, and his expression was malevolent and eerie. 'Weird guy,' the blonde ninja thought to himself.

Ibiki cleared his throat to get the attention of the chuunin exam participants. He picked up a piece of chalk and placed it against the blackboard. "The first exam has a few important rules. I will not accept any questions, so listen carefully," the scarred man said, and began writing on the board as he spoke. "First rule is that you are all given ten points at the start. The written exam consists of ten questions and they are each worth one point. This test is a deduction based test. If you get one problem wrong, you get one point deducted. If you get three wrong, your points will be reduced to seven. Second rule, the pass-fail decision will be decided by your team's total points."

"Wait! Your team's total points? What!" Sakura couldn't help but yell out loud.

'Obviously thinks that I'll fail this,' Naruto thought.

"Shut up!" Ibiki hollered back. "There is a reason for this, so just shut up and listen. Now that you know, let's move on to the third rule. If an examiner determines that you cheated or did something similar during the test, each action will cause you to loose two points. In other words, there will be people who will be forced to leave without their tests being graded. Those who cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves. You are trying to turn chuunin. If you are a ninja, act like a first rate one."

'Wow, so this is a cheating test, this guy clearly gives it away. Bet the problems on the exam will be extremely difficult too,' Naruto concluded with a smirk.

"Also, if anyone on a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail," Ibiki added. Naruto could hear Sasuke and Sakura freak out about this, and felt them send him a huge amount of killing intent. He couldn't help but give a quiet laugh.

"The last problem will be given forty five minutes after the exam begins. You have one hour. Begin!" Morino Ibiki stated.

The Kyubi container grasped a pencil and looked at the first question of the test. He skipped it, and moved on to the second. Soon Naruto had looked over all nine questions, yet his sheet was still left completely blank. 'Heh, so they are extremely difficult. I don't have a single clue about any of these questions,' the boy thought. He put his pencil back on the desk, and rubbed his hair. 'Sakura can probably answer these on her own, Sasuke is probably going to use Sharingan… So what can I do?'

The blonde ninja leaned back in his seat and peered around the class. All around him people had began cheating. He could see that Kiba's dog was finding the answers for him. That girl with buns he had met in the halls had attached a mirror to the ceiling and was controlling its angle using wire, giving the answers to her green clad teammate. Glancing all around him, Naruto found many different ways and variants the shinobi were using to get their answers. However, this did not help him in any way. 'This isn't good, I don't have any useful techniques for this kind of objective…'

A kunai whizzed right past Naruto's face, just missing his cheek by inches. It sailed into the test of a person sitting behind him. The shocked genin got out of his seat, his face appearing startled by the ballistic weapon. "What is the meaning of this?"

An examiner nearby smirked. "You screwed up five times. You fail."

"What?" the nin uttered.

"Teammates of his, get out of here! Right now." The examiner announced. The shocked boy began walking out of the classroom, his body shaking, and his two teammates followed. "Team twenty three, fail," the examiner said out loud.

In the next twenty minutes, even more teams were called out of the room, caught for cheating five times. Most of the ninja caught weren't willing to go, denying that they cheated. Those ninja were escorted out of the room with force. The room was beginning to appear very empty, with over half the people already missing.

'This isn't going to be easy, the examiners are trying their best to catch us…' Naruto thought to himself, still analyzing the situation. 'Shit, time is running out!'

The blonde shinobi looked at the guy sitting next to him and raised his eyebrow. The red haired boy was holding one hand in a seal, and the tips of his finger were touching his closed eye. Meanwhile, his other hand lay open on the desk. Naruto looked closer, and could just barely make out pieces of grain floating through the air into his palm. 'Sand?' the orange clad ninja thought. The sand formed together in his palm, taking the shape of a sphere. In only a few seconds, the sand had transformed into an eyeball. Naruto was puzzled and intrigued by this, so he kept watching the boy. The sand user then shut his hand, crushing the eyeball. The sand spreading into the air, the grains distilling so much they were almost invisible. Naruto followed the sand with his eye, wanting to see what would happen.

"Ah, something is in my eyes! Damn!" one examinee shouted out, and began rubbing them, trying to get it out. This genin was one row in front of Naruto, and while the blonde boy couldn't see what was going on, he could guess it. The Suna nin sitting next to him then began writing down the answers on his paper.

'The sand got in his eye, so this kid reformed the eyeball and used it to get the answers. Clever… he is definitely good,' Naruto thought to himself. The Kyubi container weaved his hand through his blonde locks. 'In theory… I could try to copy that, but do it with water!' Naruto smiled widely at this. If it worked, his team would definitely pass the first phase of the chuunin exam. That jutsu didn't seem incredibly complicated, the blonde ninja had quite a high chance of pulling it off.

Naruto raised his left hand, and clenched it into a fist. He then raised his index and middle finger, and touched his left eye. That was what the red haired boy next to him had done. He then opened his right hand, and tried to focus his chakra into the air. 'This is going to be hard, I'll have to turn the water vapor in the air into actual water,' the Kyubi container thought. A few water droplets began forming on his palm, and were writhing together. Soon, there was sphere made of water hovering in his palm, and the next second, it turned into an eyeball. 'Alright, now… how do I enable this eye to see as my eye? This will be tricky.' Naruto channeled chakra from his fingers into his eye, and at the same time transferred the same chakra into the sphere in his hand. It was lamost like he had to cling his chakra onto the right nerve. After nearly five minutes of trying, he suddenly felt a strange sensation in his left eye, and was currently seeing the ceiling of the room, which was where the pupil of the eyeball was facing. 'Yes!' the blonde boy thought, and smiled.

Naruto stayed in the same position, however was steadily controlling the eyeball with chakra. It slowly moved through the air, approaching the same genin that the sand user had cheated off earlier. Naruto made the water eyeball move right in front of the examinee's stomach, a place where he could see the answers on the sheet but not allow the genin to see the eyeball. The blonde ninja scanned over the answers, trying to memorize them as fast as possible. When he looked over the seventh problem however, his concentration on the technique broke, and the eye turned back into water, which fell and splattered right on the examinee's groin area.

"What the hell!?" the frustrated genin yelled, first something got into his eye and severely irritated it, and now water from seemingly nowhere had soaked his pants.

Naruto sighed. 'Oh well, I got the answer to six problems, that was good enough,' he though, smiling at his success. He immediately picked up his pencil and began scribbling down the answers on his sheet before he forgot them.

As Naruto placed his pencil back down, he felt that someone was looking at him. He turned his head and found that the red haired boy who used sand was gazing at him. His expression was hard to read, but it contained some surprise as well as anger. It was something to expect though, Naruto had almost completely copied what the boy had done. The next second the Suna nin went back to looking at the front of the class with his usual emotionless stare. Naruto chuckled, this guy was interesting, he obviously didn't have many social skills.

Forty five minutes had passed since the exam began, and Morino Ibiki had taken notice of this. "Alright. Looks like we've already dropped the incompetent ones. I will now give the tenth problem, since there's only fifteen minutes left of the exam. But before that, there is one thing I must say. There will be one special rule for this question. This is… a hopeless rule. First, you are all going to choose whether you want to take the tenth problem or not."

This surprised the remaining examinees. "Choose? So what happens if we don't take the tenth problem?" A Suna shinobi with blonde hair tied into four ponytails asked.

"If you choose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero," Ibiki answered calmly. "In other words you will fail. Your teammates will fail along with you."

"What's the meaning of that?"

"Of course we'll choose to take it!" Many comments like these echoed throughout the classroom.

"And here is the other rule," Ibiki continued, "If you choose to take it and you get it wrong, you will loose the privilege to take the chuunin exam forever."

"What kind of dumb rule is that!?" Kiba hollered, pointing his finger accusingly at the scarred man. "There should be those here who have taken the chuunin exam before!"

Ibiki laughed at this. "You were unlucky. This year, I am the examiner," he said darkly.

Many people were unable to deal with this new information. Several genin were trembling or clutching their heads. Naruto however was calm, not scared by this condition. Slowly, one person raised his hand, "I quit, I won't take it." The ninja and his team walked out of the classroom, their heads slumped. Over the next few minutes, more people chose to leave, and more ninja turned nervous.

'What morons, you can't just be afraid of the challenges life throws at you,' Naruto thought, disgusted at how many people actually chose to leave. He glimpsed around the room, and what he saw frightened him. Sakura seemed hesitant, and her hand was trembling. She slowly lifted up her arm, and her hand ascended into the air.

'Shit! Why is she doing this, she can definitely answer any question! Ah, it doesn't matter, I've got to stop her somehow anyway!' Before even thinking about what he was going to do, Naruto raised his own hand high into the air, startling Sakura and making her put her hand back down. 'Shit! What I'd do that for? Shit, shit, shit! What do I do now?'

"You want to quit?" Ibiki asked aloud.

Naruto slammed his hand onto the desk, making the table shake. "Screw you! I'm not gonna run away! I'll take this problem! Even if I stay a genin I'll become Hokage no matter what anyway!" the blonde boy yelled at the top of his lungs. He stood up from his seat and pointed his finger at Ibiki. "I'm not scared!" The orange clad shinobi then slumped back into his seat, his arms crossed. 'Heh, pretty sure that worked.' He checked, and Sakura in fact had a confident expression on her face.

"I will ask one more time. This is a choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit, now is the time," Ibiki repeated. However, nobody budged from their seat, and all the remaining nin had confidence in their eyes. 'Interesting kid. He wiped out everyone's uncertainty,' the interrogator thought.

The tall man looked around the room. 'Seventy eight left, huh? That's still a lot more than I expected. But it doesn't seem like anybody else will leave, no point in waiting any longer.' The scarred man looked at the other examiners, and they nodded at him. Morino Ibiki cleared his throat. "Nice determination. Then… for the first exam, everyone here… passes!"

Everyone's eyes widened. Naruto couldn't help but to smirk, and a lot of other people around him did so as well.

"Wait! We pass already? What about the tenth question?" Sakura shouted out.

Ibiki let out a hearty laugh and smiled. Naruto couldn't help but think it looked creepy as hell on the serious man. "There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two-choice question the tenth question," the large man explained.

"Hey! So what was the point of those previous nine problems? It was all waste!" the blonde Suna kunoichi questioned.

"No it's not. The nine problems accomplished their purpose. The purpose was to test each person's information gathering skills," Ibiki clarified.

'I thought that was obvious,' Naruto thought, disappointed at how stupid some people in this test seemed. The blonde boy tuned out the rest of Ibiki's explanation, any normal person should have been able to conclude that at this point in time. However, the Kyubi container began paying attention as Ibiki began taking off the beanie that covered his head.

"Information can have a greater value than life sometimes, and in missions and battlefields… Information is contested with the lives of people," the man finished and slid the hat off his head, revealing that it was adorned with many deep holes, burn marks and scars. They were easily identified as torture marks. Even Naruto winced at how many and how intense they were. "The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person isn't necessarily accurate. Remember this. Getting wrong information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So we made you gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those lacking in that field. That's what went on." The scarred man then put his beanie back over his head, covering his multitude of injuries.

"But I still can't agree with the last question," the same Suna girl said.

Naruto rolled his eyes. This girl had looks, but it seemed her interpretation skills were severely lacking. Ibiki went on to explain it, but Naruto's attention span wasn't nearly that long. He had no reason to listen to the man anyway; this was common sense in his opinion. A ninja has to be determined, they can't just disagree to go on a dangerous or difficult mission, they require courage, hence the tenth question. The blonde ninja didn't need this explained to him, so instead of listening he just looked at the ceiling, counting how many cracks it had.

"You have broken through the entrance. The first phase of the chuunin selection exam ends now. I wish you luck," Morino concluded.

Before anyone had a chance to sigh in relief, or celebrate their accomplishment, a black ball crashed through the window, sending glass flying through the room and shattering to the ground. The object had four kunai fly out from it, embedding into a wall and spreading out a large black sheet. This completely covered the room, obscuring Ibiki from view. The large black sheet read, "_Second examiner, Mitarashi Anko is here!"_

In front of the sign stood a purple haired woman, clad in fishnet and wearing a large coat. "There is no time to be happy!" the newcomer roared obnoxiously. "I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Let's go the second exam! Follow me!"

The genin examinees stared back at her in total silence, struck in awe by her eccentric entrance. Naruto looked at this woman confused, she was too much like him with his mask on. However, she was awfully attractive, no denying that.

"Grasp the atmosphere," Morino Ibiki sarcastically said to the purple haired kunoichi. The woman had a sweat drop descend down her head.

Anko then looked around the classroom. "Ibiki, you let twenty six teams pass? The first exam must have been too soft."

"It looks like there are a lot of excellent ninja this time," the interrogator answered.

"Oh well," the obnoxious woman huffed. "I'm going to make more than half the teams fail in the next exam. I'm getting excited. I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your jounin teachers about the rally point and time. That's all. Dismissed!"

Naruto smiled. He felt that he would like the next exam.

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**Ending Note:** In case you are wondering I did not forget about the meeting between team seven and Gaara's team, I left it out intentionally. It also wouldn't contribute to my fic anyway, same with Kabuto, another reason why I left these events out. Next chapter will come out much sooner than usual. Thanks for reading, and leaving a review always makes the author happy! 


	4. Chapter 4

**Blood-Stained Kubikiri**

…**Chapter Four…**

**Note: **I'd like to thank everyone who read my fanfiction, and especially those who reviewed it. Thanks guys, you make me keep going! Still, it's slightly disappointing, there are over one hundred fifty people who put this story on their alert list, and over sixty have it on their favorites. Yet last chapter not that many people left a review, and when that happens it's not that gratifying, and makes me loose a little motivation to write the story. If you enjoyed the story, or even if you didn't, I would really like to know. Just a few words, or a suggestion, any thoughts you had, it really helps when you leave a review. When I read a story, I always try to give my thoughts on it, and I would really appreciate if you guys do the same. Anyway, sorry for that, but it was kind of on my chest, and I wanted to get it out. This chapter will have a rather "unpleasant" surprise that I hope nobody was expecting, and I'll eagerly be awaiting your reactions. Without further ado, let's move on to the story!

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It was a windy day, with a few clouds drifting across the sky. The rough breeze rattled the trees, as well as picked up a few loose leaves and carried them through the air. The atmosphere was silent and tense, sending shivers down the spines of many shinobi. A tall fence made of thick wire circled an area filled with many enormous and shady looking trees. These plants towered into the sky, being so tall and vast you almost couldn't see the top. The entrances to the area were locked by many chains, locks, and seals. The sign on the fence read, "_Forbidden Area_". These woods were definitely a place people were supposed avoid. Next to the fence was a stand where a few examiners in the same grey uniforms were sitting.

'What a sinister looking place… I like it!' Naruto thought, examining the area. The group of genin who managed to pass the first test were all standing in front of this forest, looking at it both eagerly and nervously. Both ardor and anxiety sparked through the air.

"This place is where the second exam will take place," Mitarashi Anko said, having an ominous gleam in her eyes. "The forty fourth training area… Also known as the Forest of Death."

"This sure is a creepy place," Sakura remarked, seeming deterred by the appearance of the vicinity.

"You will soon be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death," the purple haired examiner added with an amused smile.

Naruto cocked his eyebrow. "Forest of Death? Isn't that name rather idiotic, doesn't evoke any fear in me at all! That's almost as bad as The Forest of No Return," the blonde boy stated.

"Really? You shouldn't be so careless in your words," Anko replied. In an instant, a kunai was produced from the sleeve of her coat, and she threw out with immense speed. Naruto might have been able to dodge it, but he decided not to, interested in what this woman was trying to do. The weapon flew right past his face, slightly grazing his cheek, and then embedding into the soil a short distance behind him.

By now the purple haired kunoichi had dashed from where she stood, reappearing behind the orange clad ninja in the same second. "Cocky boys like you tend to die the fastest," Anko slurred as she traced her tongue along Naruto's cut, lapping up the flowing blood. "Spraying that red blood I love…"

The startled orange clad ninja looked at Anko in surprise, faking a shocked expression, yet in reality trying to contain his grin. 'If I had known this would happen I would have acted like an idiot a lot earlier,' he joked in is mind. 'I really like this examiner!'

Something had caught the attention of this sadistic kunoichi and another kunai was deployed from her jacket. Anko swung around, the knife ready in her hand, however paused when a tongue wrapped around another kunai slithered in front of her.

"Here's your kunai," a strange shinobi wearing pale and black clothes along with a straw hat said. This person had long black hair, and his tongue was outstretched several feet, holding the kunai Anko had thrown at Naruto earlier. He had a large purple rope tied across his waste into a bow.

"Why thank you," the purple haired examiner replied with a smirk, "But you really shouldn't stand behind me like that. Unless of course, you want to die." Anko took the kunai into her hand, and the shinobi's elongated tongue retracted back into his mouth.

"I'm sorry, but I get excited when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, I couldn't help myself. Sorry," the man said as he turned around and began walking away.

This guy actually gave Naruto the creeps. 'There's something wrong about him… but I can't put my finger on it,' the blonde boy thought, eyeing the ninja suspiciously. 'And what the hell was up with his tongue?'

"It looks like there are a lot of blood thirsty people in this exam," Anko said to herself. "This is going to be fun."

'You got that right!' Naruto smirked, putting himself in that category.

The purple haired kunoichi then pulled out a large stack of papers from within her jacket. "Before we begin the second exam, I will have to pass these out to everyone. They are consent forms, those who are taking the exam have to sign these.

"Why?" the blonde shinobi asked, being intrigued to as why they were necessary.

"There will be deaths in this exam," Anko replied smugly. "Therefore, we need people's consent before we can proceed. Otherwise, I could be held responsible!" the sadistic woman laughed, and handed the forms to Naruto, who took one and passed the rest down to the other shinobi.

"Wait! So we are allowed to kill people in this exam?" Naruto asked, his hopes rising.

"That question coming from you is quite amusing," Anko teased, "But yes, if you think you can pull that off, go ahead and try."

'Why would Naruto be asking a question like that?' Sakura thought, staggered by his inquiry.

"What the hell is the dobe thinking?" Sasuke muttered to himself.

'Sweet! This couldn't be more perfect,' the orange clad ninja thought.

Mitarashi Anko then began the explanation of the second phase of the chuunin selection exam. Naruto paid just enough attention to get the main outline of what they were supposed to do. It was a survival match, where each team received either a heaven or earth scroll. The objective was to get both scrolls and go to the tower located in the center of the Forest of Death. Five days was the time limit, all three members of the team had to be alive, they were not allowed to look inside the scrolls until they reached the tower, and quitting in the middle of the exam was not an option.

'Pretty straight forward,' Naruto thought. So the objective was to get the other scroll and not loose yours. However, you did not know which person from the team was holding the scroll, if they even had the one you required, or how strong the opposing team was. 'This is actually an extremely well planned out exam.'

The teams were given half an hour to think over whether they wanted to continue the chuunin exam or not. After the time had expired, the participating teams lined up in front of the stand, their consent forms in their hands. Nobody had decided to quit, so all twenty six teams stood in a long line, waiting to receive their scroll.

Team seven entered the small wooden stand, red curtains surrounded it, disabling other teams to see what was going on inside. Naruto passed in the three consent forms to the examiner, and he in return handed them a white scroll with the kanji for heaven written on it. When they exited the stand, another examiner escorted them around the fence circling the forest. They stood in front of a large gate, a sign with the number twelve hung on it.

"In twenty three minutes, all the gates will open, and this exam will begin," he explained.

"Alright! I'm not gonna loose!" Naruto yelled, launching a few quick jabs into the air, and acting like his old self.

In the next few minutes, all the teams had been escorted to an individual gate located around the parameters of the Forest of Death. Time ticked down, second by second, and the shinobi eagerly awaited for the countdown to end. And finally, the second phase initiated, the gates were swung open, and the ninja dashed through them. In mere seconds they were already leaping through the trees, deciding how to formulate their strategies and who they should try to target first.

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Naruto was slowly walking through the forest beside his teammates. These woods were much worse than they appeared from the outside. The lofty trees blocked out all sunlight, making the vicinity dim. Vegetation was everywhere, blocking most paths, and most of those plants were covered in thorns, a few even poisonous. Giant insects such as centipedes seemed to be everywhere.

In the short time they were in the Forest of Death, Sasuke had already decided he would be the group leader and that he would carry the scroll. Sakura had agreed, as usual not questioning anything the boy said. The Kyubi container didn't really care what his teammates wanted to do; his own plans did not tie in with them. In fact, the blonde ninja was trying to find a chance to ditch his team. He needed to separate from them for a short period of time.

A loud yell, as if someone was being tortured, echoed through the forest, making Sakura jump. "That was someone's scream, right?" she asked, not really wanting an answer. "I'm starting to get nervous."

"Don't worry Sakura-chan! It's nothing," Naruto reassured her, while scratching the back of his head. The orange clad shinobi finally thought of an easy way he could split from his team. He faked an irritated expression and shouted out, "I need to take a piss!" Without warning he ran to a nearby tree, and opened the zipper of his pants.

Sakura instantly appeared behind him, giving him a massive blow on the head. Her expression was that of a rabid animal. "You idiot! What are you doing in front of a lady? Do it behind those other trees!"

Naruto walked away from his team, rubbing his aching head. He went behind the trees Sakura pointed to, but instead of stopping broke out in a sprint, soon bounding into the canopy. 'Those two should be alright on their own for a while, as long as they don't get killed it's fine,' the boy began thinking to himself. 'So in order to fulfill that deal I made with the bastard fox I'll have to kill quite a few people. I'm going to have to seek out the weak teams and eliminate them, I won't have enough chakra to spare if I get in a major fight. Assassination techniques would also be a clever choice to use, they are fast and don't require much chakra…'

By now the orange clad boy was far away from his team, they would have no chance of tracking him down. Naruto spotted a clearing and leaped down into it. He took out a familiar scroll from within his jacket, summoning forth the Kubikiri Houcho. He stuck the huge sword into the ground, then pulling out a peculiar strap from one of the pockets of his pants. He adjusted this around his body, and then lifted the oversized blade, securing it into the strap on his back. Since the sword was so large, it had to hang from the blonde shinobi's back at a sixty degree angle, otherwise it would constantly be skidding across the ground. Even so, the handle of the head cleaver was still slightly above Naruto's head. It wasn't exactly the best way to secure and transport the blade, but the Kyubi container wasn't exactly tall, so it was the best he could manage. After making sure the Kubikiri Houcho wouldn't get in his way as he moved around, and that it was easy to draw, the blonde boy formed a hand seal and shouted out, "Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!" Over one hundred clones appeared, scattered around the meadow, many hunched on the branches of trees. They also had the Kubikiri Houcho strapped to their backs in the same fashion as the original Naruto.

"Alright, listen up everybody! You are to split into groups of twenty, search the forest for teams, and kill as many people as you are capable of. Since you are in large groups swarming a team or even surrounding them from all sides would be the best strategy! If you are able to only kill one person in a team with an ambush attack, that's fine. It would be smart to retreat afterward!" the orange clad shinobi hollered out loud enough for all the clones to hear. He then took out a kunai and threw it into the soil. "You are to meet up right here after five hours. If one of you gets a scroll, it would be best if you stop fighting, and just hang to it so you can bring it to this location."

"Got it! Understood!" the shadow clones replied, getting into groups of twenty as Naruto had commanded. Meanwhile, the orange clad ninja was already running off on his own, heading west and trying to find a team to ambush. "It has begun!"

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Three rain nin stood in a large meadow filled with tall grass nearly reaching up to their knees. They had taken a drink from the small river running next to them, and now stood discussing how they should progress through the exam. The rain ninja appeared in their early twenties, and each had umbrellas on their back. Two ninja from the squad wore strange hats along with black and grey outfits. The leader wore the same outfit, however also sported a black robe. He had bandages wrapped around his forehead, as well as a scar going up his right eye and stitches along the side of his mouth.

"So what's our plan?" one of the rain nin asked.

"It's rather basic. We're going to find a weak team, completely annihilate them, then head to the tower. There's no need to waste extra time in this damn forest," the leader of the team replied.

Unknown to them, right on the edge of the clearing, hidden in the leaves of a tree, another shinobi was spying on them. Naruto observed these shinobi from the Hidden Village of Rain. While their appearance did seem rather threatening and dangerous, the blonde shinobi wasn't fooled. 'Anybody still that old and a genin must have failed the exam several times. That means their skills are insufficient of being a chuunin. They shouldn't be too hard to take on,' the boy thought, eyeing the nin, looking for an opening to strike.

The moment had come, their backs were turned to him. Without waiting another second, Naruto drew the Kubikiri Houcho from the holster on his back, hopping out from the tree, and rushing toward the ground. He landed silently, and pushed off the soil, sending dirt flying into the air. The distance between the Kyubi container and the Ame shinobi was closed in a split second. Naruto swung his massive blade forward with intense speed. The rain shinobi looked backward just in time, managing to franticly leap sideways before the sword had come in contact with them. The Kubikiri Houcho flew right past the leader, missing him by only inches.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, his ambush failed, now he would have to enter an actual fight and waste his chakra. The boy skidded to a stop, attaching his sword back onto the holster. The team of rain nin jumped backward, creating space between them and the blonde shinobi. Naruto was now standing right on the bank of the small river, with the Ame nin roughly sixty feet in front of him.

"Heh, what the hell are you trying to pull, you little shit?" the leader asked, anger in his eyes.

"Where the hell are your teammates, are they attempting to ambush us as well?" his teammate taunted.

"I don't need them," Naruto smugly replied.

"Little kids like you shouldn't pick fights they can't handle. You'll end up dying," the squad leader remarked.

"Did you learn that lesson the hard way? A guy as old as you still being a genin, it's pathetic," the Kyubi container retorted.

The Ame ninja snarled back in rage. "Fine brat! If you want to die so badly, I'll fulfill your wish!"

"Then go ahead and try. I'm in a hurry, and don't have time to chat, let's end this already," Naruto calmly countered.

The leader scowled. "Then let's do this!" He grabbed the five umbrellas that were suspended on his back, opening them all at once. He then flung them high into the air, yet instead of the objects falling back to the ground, they stayed aloft. He then formed the tiger seal with his hands. "Die kid! Ninpou jouro senbon!" The umbrellas hovering in the air began spinning rapidly, with loads of needles sliding out from the flaps of the dark green umbrellas. The senbon whirled madly in circles, almost appearing like silver clouds. "This will strike from above, below, and from the side, there is no escape. The needles are regulated with my chakra, and will always strike the target!"

'I see, so this is what kind of jutsu it is,' Naruto thought. Without hesitation, he proceeded through a set of hand seals. The water from the river began rising upward in a column, steadily moving toward the blonde shinobi. Meanwhile, the needles hurtling through the air began zooming around Naruto, trapping him from all sides. Then they closed in, flying at the orange clad boy at colossal speeds. The water from the river swiftly traveled in font of Naruto, as if it was alive. The liquid then hardened in a matter of seconds, turning into ice. The blonde ninja had created an icy shield in front of himself. The senbon needles struck the thick layer of ice, barely penetrating it, a few even bouncing off the frozen surface.

"He made a wall of ice?" the rain nin asked aloud in surprise. "Fine! Then I'll just strike you from behind!"

A large amount of senbon launched at the Kyubi container from the rear. However, all Naruto had to do was lift up his sword, the needles harmlessly recoiling off the steel. The rain shinobi reacted by sending hundreds of needles at the boy from all sides. As they began to descend down upon him, Naruto jumped to the side, the senbon embedding into the soil. He was easily able to avoid them.

"While you are able to control the senbon, when they go at a speed that fast you don't have time to change their direction. I have plenty of time to dodge," Naruto smirked. "Now, I think I'll fight back with some needles of my own!" The blonde shinobi entered another cycle of hand seals and called out, "Sensatsu hyousho!" Another column of water rose from the lake, this time separating into many smaller bodies of water. The water hovered in the air, hardening and turning into many needles of ice, appearing very similar to thin icicles. Naruto thrust his arm forward, and the ice needles soared at the umbrellas scattered in the air. The icicles easily propelled through the clouds of swirling senbon needles, piercing through the targeted umbrellas and ripping them to shreds. Since the umbrellas were destroyed the senbon that came from them all dropped to the ground, now completely useless. The tattered umbrellas gradually fell down from the air as well, now unusable.

"What the hell?" the leader of the squad croaked.

"Your jutsu was feeble, just like your whole team," Naruto responded, sporting a smirk.

"Don't take me lightly!" the Ame ninja rushed at Naruto, a kunai drawn in his hand.

"How foolish." Before he had even begun charging, Naruto begun forming the proper seals. They orange clad boy didn't have time to finish however, the man had reached him and plunged the weapon right into his chest where the heart was located.

"You're dead!" However, the leader's jubilation was short lived, as the body of Naruto turned into water, and splattered to the ground. "What!?"

"Yup, it was a mizu bunshin," the actual Naruto stated. He stood across the river on the opposite bank, hands clasped together in the final seal of a long combination. The river seemed to tower upward in a swirling cyclone of water. The large mass of liquid took shape of an enormous dragon, its mouth spewing mist in rage. "Suiryudan no jutsu," the blonde boy called out. The dragon lurched from its spot, swerving madly at the team leader. The Ame shinobi didn't even have time to dodge, the dragon struck him full force, trapping him in its fluid maw. The water projectile then propelled him forward, sending him flying a few hundred feet right into the trunk of a tree. His body recoiled off the timber, the sickening sounds of crushed bones echoing through the meadow. However, the water dragon did not end its assault there, pursuing the man and crashing into the same tree trunk, entirely obliterating the giant plant along with him.

The meadow was soaked in water, droplets still falling through the air, nearly turning the surroundings into a swamp. You could make out the trail of where the suiryudan no jutsu skimmed across the ground, as the soil and grass was torn away leaving behind a large and incredibly long hole. The branches and chunks of the demolished tree fell from the sky as well, and a dispersed storm of leaves floated through the air.

The two remaining rain ninja stared at Naruto, frozen in shock. They tuned back around, unable to locate the body of their beaten leader. "Sigure? Where are you!" one of them called out hysterically, scared by the power this blonde boy had displayed.

"He is dead, I wouldn't be surprised if his body was torn to chunks in fact," Naruto said, amused at the reaction of the two remaining shinobi.

"That… can't be!"

"Oh it can, and you're next!" The Kyubi container had dashed forward, appearing in front of the rain nin before he even had time to react. The Kubikiri Houcho was already drawn, and Naruto swung it foreword. The opposing shinobi tried to back up, but the sword was too long, it sliced cleanly at his waste, completely splitting the body into two pieces. Blood erupted through the air, and a few organs grossly tumbled out of the severed half of the torso which rolled along the ground. The crimson blood mixed into the thin layer of mud and water that covered the earth, spreading red throughout the surrounding area.

The final Ame ninja wasted no time, and with a terrified yell began running for his life. Not paying attention as to where he was going, the clumsy shinobi tripped on a root, falling into the mud-spattered grass. The head cleaver was brought down on his neck, severing it from the body and killing him instantly. Even more blood spread over the marshy meadow.

Naruto tried to ignore how disgusting and repulsive this scene was. It was easily enough to make an inexperienced ninja throw up. He got down on all fours next to the victim and took a deep breathe. Without looking directly at the body, he searched it, trying to uncover the scroll this team was holding. He had found it in the pocket of the beheaded ninja, and pulled out the rolled up piece of parchment. It was a heaven scroll, and the Kyubi container securely tucked it into his jacket. The blonde boy still wasn't completely used to looking at the gore and insides of dead people.

"Glad that scroll wasn't with the leader. Then it would be nearly impossible to find," Naruto muttered to himself. He sat on the bank of the river and dipped the Kubikiri Houchi on the running water, cleaning it of the crimson liquid it was covered in. The blonde boy saw his reflection in the stream, finding out some of the blood had splattered across his face. He wiped it away with his hand.

After the blade was shining like new, Naruto placed it back into the holster on his back. The boy focused chakra to his feet, and leaped high into the canopy above, continuing the search for more teams. He raked the landscape, peering through the vegetation like a hawk searching for its prey.

Nearly an hour had passed, and the blonde shinobi was having no luck. He hadn't stumbled or for the matter even seen a team during the whole search. However, the boy did not get discouraged; he still had plenty of time to seek out potential targets. As if on cue, out of the corner of his eye Naruto caught the sight of a shinobi, yet was not able to identify who he was or what village he was from. They boy gathered chakra to his feet, attaching himself to a tree branch and thus coming to a sudden halt.

The Kyubi container stood against the tree trunk silently, the team he had discovered was right below him, standing on the forest floor. Naruto was close enough to even sense their chakra signatures. 'Alright, I don't think they are aware of me yet. I'm about eighty feet above them, a direct fall and instantaneous attack should be effective,' the orange clad ninja planned out. He positioned himself for the descent, ready to launch the attack.

Naruto dropped through the thick canopy swiftly and silently, avoiding the tangle of branches below him. He landed on the rough soil like a cat, the Kubikiri Houcho already drawn. The blonde boy held it in one hand, ready to swing it forward and deliver a devastating slash. However, before he even landed on the ground, the team hopped backward, positioning themselves out of Naruto's range. Somehow they knew of the ambush ahead of time and had avoided it. His sneak attack was a failure. Naruto lifted his head, checking which team it was that managed to avoid his onslaught. "So, it's you guys."

Neji, Lee, and Tenten stood several feet in front of him, already in formation and taking their selected battle stances. The brunette girl had an unrolled summoning scroll in her hand, Lee was in a bizarre taijutsu stance, while the Hyuga stood in front of his two teammates, his palm lifted and byakugan activated.

"I admire your spirit, Naruto-kun, wanting to battle us already!" the bushy browed ninja said, a confident smile plastered on his face.

"I don't see your teammates in the surrounding area… You can't possibly be trying to attack us on your own," Neji commented, somewhat surprised.

"That sword…" Tenten muttered to herself, looking at it both confused and amazed. 'It's definitely not ordinary, but I just can't seem to remember what's so special about it,' the weapon mistress thought.

Naruto awkwardly smiled back at the team, some distress in his eyes. 'Shit, I seriously doubt I can win this battle. I was hoping I could avoid them during this exam. The only option I have is to retreat,' the blonde ninja concluded. "Sorry, but you guys aren't on my list to take care of yet. Catch ya later!"

Several kage bunshin were created, charging at the Hyuga's team without delay. The clones were taken out almost instantly from the combined taijutsu of Neji and Lee. However, Naruto had leaped backwards several moments ago, already zooming through the trees and out of the Hyuga's vision range.

"That was rather strange of him," Tenten mentioned.

"I wonder what's on Naruto-kun's mind," Lee pondered aloud.

"It seems he is targeting weak teams to both eliminate them from the exam and earn easy scrolls," Neji analyzed. "I wouldn't be surprised if he already has both scrolls in his possession."

"That's rather cruel…" Tenten replied.

"Several people in the exam are set on the same strategy. Actually I was expecting him to be one of them from the start," the Hyuga responded.

By now, the orange clad ninja was far away from Neji's team, the chance of them being on his trail very minimal. It was also likely the team wouldn't pursue him in the first place.

'Damn, I should really be more aware of which people I try to attack. I only have enough energy to kill off the weaklings, if I get in a fight with a powerful team it could jeopardize my whole plan,' the Kyubi container thought, as he snuck through the forest, trying to find yet another team. "I should also get back to Sasuke and Sakura soon, I'm not sure how long they can last on their own," he added aloud.

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The man's neck extended, writhing upward like a coiling snake. It twisted at Sasuke, making its way through the air. Orochimaru bit down on the Uchiha's neck, his teeth embedding deep into the boy's flesh as if he was a vampire.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted out in worry, unable to move from her spot.

Orochimaru opened his mouth, leaving two bleeding holes in Sasuke's neck where his fangs penetrated. His neck then retracted, returning to its normal length. Slowly, three strange marks appeared right above the bite marks on the sharingan user's neck. The boy managed to see the strange mark out of the corner of his eye before intense pain shot through his body. He grasped his neck in agony, gritting his teeth and letting out a raspy yell. He collapsed to the ground, unable to maintain his footing.

"Sasuke-kun…!" Sakura yelled, looking alarmed at the suffering Uchiha. "What did you do to Sasuke-kun!?" she bellowed at Orochimaru.

"I gave him a farewell preset," the pale man responded. "Sasuke-kun will seek me. He will seek me for power. It was fun being able to see your moves," with those words Orochimaru sunk into the tree, as if he was melting into it. His presence had completely vanished.

Sasuke collapsed onto all fours, still groaning in pain and clutching his neck. His whole body was trembling.

Sakura ran to his side, trying to help him up. "Sasuke-kun! Get a hold of yourself, Sasuke-kun. Come on!" she was answered with another agonizing yell, before the boy collapsed. He had lost consciousness.

Tears began descending down the kunoichi's face. She hugged the motionless Uchiha, bearing an expression of anguish and fear. "I… What should I do?" the pink haired girl asked aloud.

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Naruto leaned against a tree trunk, resting his tired body. It had been over five hours since he began his mission, and the blonde boy was waiting for the last group of kage bunshin to return. He tapped his fingers against the timber impatiently, and looked into the large clusters of leaves above him which blocked out the sky. A murder of crows flew through the air, screeching loudly. "Geez, this place isn't peaceful at all. I can't even meditate," the orange clad boy sighed.

In a few minutes, four shadow clones leaped down from the trees, landing right in front of Naruto. These replicas were all that was left from the original group of twenty. Three of them instantly burst out of existence, leaving only one. This kage bunshin handed Naruto the scroll it was carrying, and then also disappeared.

The blonde ninja took out the other two scrolls he had obtained from his jacket. "So I have two earth and one heaven scroll. Well, there's no need for this other one." Without even thinking twice, he chucked the extra scroll into the air, not caring where it would land. He stored the other two remaining scrolls in his jacket. The orange clad ninja then drew the Kubikiri Houcho, sealing the sword back into its summoning scroll, tucking that into his jacket as well. Finally, he unwrapped the strap used to suspend the massive sword from his body and shoved it into his pocket. It was finally time for him to reunite with his team.

"Sasuke and Sakura better not have fucked up while I was gone," Naruto muttered to himself. If he failed the exam just because his two teammates got killed he would be beyond pissed. The blonde ninja gathered chakra into his feet and leaped high into the canopy above. He quickly rushed back to the area where he abandoned his team.

'Alright, so altogether that was fourteen people killed. Hope it's a large enough number for that damn fox. An opportunity to kill this amount of people isn't going to come again any time soon,' thought the Kyubi container. He did feel some guilt and regret for slaughtering those other shinobi, but it was easy enough to suppress that it didn't bother him. After all, it could be considered training, since the life of a ninja was to assassinate. He would have to learn to deal with blood and gore, as well as the nightmares that came with the job.

The orange clad boy soared from tree branch to tree branch. Being a prankster for most of his life taught him to move about from place to place without making any sounds. Naruto was fairly worn out from his "excursion", and an encounter with another team at this point would not go so well.

After a few hours of searching through the vast forest Naruto was starting to get frustrated. There wasn't a single trace of his team, and by now the boy had searched through most of the woods.

"I guess I'll need to rely on kage bunshin once again," he said to himself. "Geez, I talk to myself way too much," the blonde ninja chuckled. "I guess that's what happens when you live alone for most of your whole life," he sighed. Naruto formed the desired hand seal, and twenty shadow clones emerged in a large cloud of smoke. "Alright guys, find my team!"

All the clones leaped into the air, bounding in different directions instantly. They were soon out of sight, rushing through the thick trees. Naruto slumped down on the branch he was standing on and leaned against the tree trunk.

"I need to conserve chakra for later, so it's best if I let the clones do all the work for now," the Kyubi container alleged. He lightly closed his eyes, relaxed his body, and began to rest. When a kage bunshin disappeared, all the information it learned and the things it experienced were transferred back to the original user of the jutsu. This made the jutsu useful for spying, as well a helpful in all other matters.

After some time passed, Naruto's eyes shot open. "So that's where they are." He stood up and quickly began sprinting in his desired direction.

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Sakura placed a damp cloth onto Sasuke's forehead. The Uchiha was unconscious, but he was still gritting his teeth and had clenched fists. His whole body was tensed, and it was easy to tell the boy was in severe pain. The pink haired kunoichi was glad she was able to find a hollow tree trunk; it provided a good hiding spot. However, there were still too many problems to make the girl feel relieved.

"What the hell did that man do to Sasuke-kun? And where is Naruto when you need him!" she asked aloud. Her voice was filled with distress and worry.

"Yo, what the hell happened here?"

Sakura nearly leaped from where she was sitting. With a shriek she turned around and pulled a kunai from her pouch, gripping it tightly. When she saw who was behind her though, she dropped the weapon in surprise. "N-Naruto!?" she stuttered in surprise.

"Sorry about my little trip, I'm back now!" the blonde boy laughed.

"Where the hell were you!?" the pink haired girl cried out in rage.

"Well, actually it's sort of confusing. I was ambushed by another team and had to flee for my life. I managed to escape them, but at that point I was kinda lost…"

"Idiot!" Sakura swung her arm forward, and her fist connected with the top of Naruto's head.

The said boy gritted his teeth, not from pain, but from anger. 'I swear… she'll get hers one day,' he thought violently to himself. That girl desperately needed anger management.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, and noticed his very ragged unconscious state. "So what happened to Sasuke?"

Sakura peered at the ground and shivered. "This man, he was extremely strong, he did this to Sasuke-kun," she answered.

Naruto glanced at the beaten Uchiha once more, this time seeing a strange mark on the side of his neck. "Hey Sakura-chan, what's that weird mark?"

The pink haired girl glanced at the black haired boy behind her once more. "That's… I-I don't really know."

It was obvious to Naruto that his teammate was lying, but he didn't care why at this point. It was unimportant. "We… we should really head to the tower right now! Sasuke looks like he's in really bad shape," the Kyubi container suggested. In reality, he just wanted to get this exam over with, for multiple reasons. The blonde boy did not feel like spending a few days in the forest with his team. Also, everyone was beaten and drained, if they were attacked like this, defeat would be inevitable.

"But we don't have any scrolls at this point in time," the kunoichi replied.

'Heh, so they couldn't hold on to their scroll, huh?' Naruto thought silently to himself. A large grin formed across Naruto's face. "Well, we're in luck! You'll never guess what I found just laying there on the forest floor!" The blonde ninja pulled out a heaven and earth scroll from his jacket.

Sakura stared at the two pieces of rolled up parchment in awe. "Are you serious!?" she gasped aloud, still not being able to believe what her teammate came across.

"I don't know, another team must have been defeated or something but their scrolls weren't picked up. Or maybe something else had happened, but it doesn't matter! As I was trying to find you guys, I cam across these!" Naruto added.

"You just came across these? That's almost unbelievable!" Sakura exclaimed, not believing her eyes but not being able to find another explanation as to why Naruto would possess these.

"I know, I was flipping out at first, thinking it was a gengitsu or something."

"Alright, Naruto! I guess you can come through when we need you!"

The orange clad tried to refrain from slapping his forehead, or the girl in font of him. This situation was just too pathetic. He quickly walked over to Sasuke and lifted him up. He then swung the sharingan wielder over his shoulder, making sure the Uchiha would be easy to transport.

"We should get to the tower as fast as possible," Naruto stated.

"Right," Sakura agreed.

The two ninjas stepped out from the hollow tree trunk, gathering chakra to their feet and leaping into the trees above them. They rushed through the swirling leaves and blending canopy, racing at their maximum speeds. Naruto found it amusing that even while carrying Sasuke, he was considerably faster than his pink haired teammate. It was already nighttime, so the chance of them getting spotted was lower than usual, and the blonde ninja was very glad. They were able to make their way through the darkness without being detected.

Since they were fairly close to the tower to begin with, they arrived there in a very short amount of time. The two walked around the edge of the oddly colored round building, until they were finally able to locate a large wooden door.

"We're finally here! Now Sasuke-kun can get help, right?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"Yeah, all that's left is to go through," he replied.

Sakura swung the wooden door open, and the duo walked into the chamber. It was an empty room, with a door located at the back wall. The blonde shinobi ran over to it, and grasped the handle bar. He pulled it as hard as he could, but the door remained completely still. The boy then tried kicking it with all his strength, but it was also a failure. "Crap, it's almost like this thing is nailed shut, it's pointless to try and break it down."

Sakura had noticed a large sign imprinted right above the door, and raised an eyebrow. "Naruto, I think what we are supposed to do next is written right there." The pink haired kunoichi then began reading the message aloud. "If you do not possess heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If not possess earth, run through the fields and gain strength. If you open both heaven and earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of something and something. It shall lead you on your way."

"Ah damn, it's some stupid riddle!" Naruto complained.

"I think it's telling us to open the two scrolls now," Sakura said.

"Alright, then let's do it," the blonde boy replied. He carefully slid Sasuke off his back, and dropped him to the ground. He then pulled out the earth and heaven scrolls from within his jacket and handed one to Sakura. "Are you sure we have to do this now? If you remember the rule was that we could not open the scrolls."

Sakura gulped, not completely sure herself. "I think so, and it seems like there is no other choice," she replied, grasping the edge of the parchment with shaking hands.

"Okay, then in three, two, one…"

Both ninja unrolled the parchment instantaneously. Sakura stared at the paper in confusion. However, Naruto recognized this was an inscription for a summoning. "Sakura! Let go of the scroll!" the blonde boy yelled out. Strange smoke began emitting from the parchment, steadily growing larger and larger.

The two shinobi threw the scrolls across the room. As they rolled across the ground a large detonation of smoke took place, and the white gas filled most of the chamber. A shape of a person could be seen through the dense smoke, and he was coming closer to team seven. Naruto and Sakura readied themselves, expecting another challenge they would have to fight through. As the haze began to wane, the figure became more prominent, and Naruto realized who it was instantly. Sakura gasped when she recognized who the man was as well.

"Hello. Long time no see," Iruka greeted nonchalantly, sporting his casual chuunin uniform.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked, dazzled by the turn of events.

"Why did you come out of the summoning scroll?" the Kyubi container inquired.

"Looks like you went through a lot of trouble. We chuunins are to welcome the examinees of the second exam, and by chance I was assigned to your team. Congratulations, you have all passed!" the academy teacher replied. His expression changed to one of concern as he noticed the Uchiha boy was sprawled on the ground next to Naruto. "What happened to Sasuke?"

"Iruka-sensei, he needs help right away! Something terrible happened in the forest!" Sakura yelled back.

Iruka ran over to Sasuke and lifted the boy up into his arms. The Uchiha was letting out muffled groans and rasps, and his body was shaking. 'He is under severe stress, and his condition seems to be getting worse by the second. There is no way he is simply unconscious,' the chuunin pondered. His gaze fell upon the mark on his neck. The academy teacher's eyes widened and he let out a quiet gasp. 'This mark… Shit! It-it can't be…'

"Do you think you can heal him, Iruka-sensei!?" Sakura asked franticly.

"You two follow me, right now!" the chuunin commanded and rushed to the door. He pulled a small red tag out of his pocket with several kanji written on it. He slammed the seal onto the door quickly, and after a few seconds a strange hissing noise was emitted. Iruka swung the door open and rushed through it, Sakura and Naruto right on his tail. The group ran through the short and narrow corridor, emerging in a large room with many passageways leading from it.

An examiner dressed in grey intercepted Iruka, noting the man's frenzied behavior as well as the fact that he was carrying an examinee in his arms. "Iruka-san, what has happened?"

"You, lead these two to a waiting room right now, I cannot do it myself! Something very bad has occurred!" the academy teacher answered quickly.

"What about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned.

"I will make sure he is taken care of! Do not worry, I promise you he will be fine," Iruka responded. 'I have to find Kakashi right away,' the academy teacher thought. The man formed a seal and immediately vanished from sight, leaving a small cloud of smoke where he used to be. He had left the location using shunshin no jutsu.

Naruto stood there dumbfounded. No way in hell was Sasuke just beaten. Something strange must have definitely happened to him in order for the boy to receive this kind of attention. The orange clad ninja decided not to question what had happened while he left his team alone; chances are Sakura would just tell him an awful lie.

Sakura just stared at the spot Iruka used to occupy, tears nearly forming in her eyes. Naruto sighed. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'm sure everything will be fine," Naruto said with a small smile, attempting to reassure his teammate. In reality the boy wanted nothing of the sort.

"I sure hope so…" the pink haired girl responded.

"I'm sure everything will be resolved. For now, please follow me so I can direct you to the place you shall stay in until the second chuunin selection exam has concluded," the examiner said to the two genin and began leading them to their proper destination.

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The large room was dimly lit and contained several large pillars scattered throughout the area. The ghostly light reflecting off the stone walls colored the room a dark blue. In the center of the chamber a large crimson circle was drawn on the rock floor. Inside this circle was a smaller circle, and on top of that Sasuke was situated in a sitting position. The boy was still unconscious, thus his back was leaning against Kakashi's knee so the black haired boy wouldn't fall backward. Throughout the drawn circle, many strange marks were traced, with blood being the medium to write them. These marks ran all the way from the ground to Sasuke's bear body, over his spine and shoulders, finally stopping once they circled the curse seal on his neck.

Kakashi made the cut on his finger even deeper with the edge of the kunai, stopping the clotting and letting the blood flow freely once more. He began drawing the remaining marks down the Uchiha's body, finally finishing the preparation for his sealing technique. These inscriptions covered most of Sasuke's torso and arms, almost making it seem like the boy had received a mass amount of tattoos.

"Alright, now I can finish this," the jounin said, and alternated through a large amount of hand seals with great speed. "Fuja Houin!"

Kakashi placed his palm on Sasuke's curse seal, and a bright blinding light was discharged. Suddenly, the many inscriptions Kakashi had made with his own blood began moving up the genin's body. They wriggled upward as if they were alive, slowly crawling up his back and merging together around the curse seal. Finally, a strange ring had formed around the curse seal, and the silver haired jounin lifted his hand off Sasuke's neck.

"Phew… the sealing went without a problem," Kakashi sighed in relief.

"Kukukuku, so you've improved, Kakashi-kun. Even knowing a sealing jutsu like that one," an eerie voice echoed through the shadows.

The copycat ninja recognized the owner of the voice immediately. He looked around, his body tense, trying to spot the intruder. "Orochimaru!"

The pale skinned man slid out of the shadows, slowly walking across the stone floor. His black hair slithered along his shoulders with every step, and his snake-like eyes stared at Kakashi. "Long time no see," the snake user chuckled. He stood, arms crossed, on the other side of the dark chamber.

"Have you come for Sasuke?" the grey haired jounin asked bluntly.

The sannin's long tongue slid across his lips. "Precisely."

"And why do you want him?"

"You are lucky that you have already gotten what you desired. You didn't have it a long time ago. That Sharingan in your left eye, I want it also, the powers of the Uchiha that is," the pale skinned man answered.

The sharingan wielder glared at Orochimaru. "You could have taken him with you in the Forest of Death, why didn't you?"

"Originally, I was going to let the boy seek me out himself. He lusts for power, so it was bound to happen. However, I happened to be discovered during the exam, not something I wanted. The security on Sasuke-kun will definitely become constant now, with guards always keeping an eye on him. And you knowing how to stop the curse seal is an even farther setback, Kakashi-kun. Normally, that mark would cloud one's judgment and influence them, so now that I know you can prevent the curse seal from working, it would be best if I snagged Sasuke-kun now without further delay," the snake sannin answered.

"So, this was a rather sudden change in your intentions," the copy nin commented, trying to analyze everything going through the man's head.

"Enough talk, Kakashi-kun. If you just hand Sasuke-kun over, I can make my leave. I have no business with you."

"That isn't an option, Orochimaru!" Kakashi lifted his head protector, revealing the crimson red sharingan eye.

"So you really think you have a chance against me?" Orochimaru cackled.

Kakashi thrust his hand out and channeled an enormous amount of chakra into it. A spark of blue lightning erupted from his palm and grew, expanding into a massive orb of electricity. The blue bolts danced around the copy nin's hand, and the shrill sound of chirping birds filled the chamber. "Raikiri!" the jounin shouted.

"What you are doing is rather foolish-" but before Orochimaru could finish, Kakashi rushed forward at an immense speed.

The gap between the two shinobi was closed in a split second. Kakashi thrust his arm forward, the jutsu in his palm crackling with energy. The condensed mass of lightning cut clean through the snake sannin's stomach, splitting his entire body into two pieces. However, the flying blood turned a dark brown color instantly, and Orochimaru's body liquefied into a thick mud.

"Shit, kawarimi!" Kakashi gasped aloud. The mud splattered to the ground, leaving no trace of the sannin. The copy nin was going at a speed too fast to stop, he kept skidding across the ground, and ended up crashing into the wall of the chamber. The raikiri hitting the stone wall resulted in a giant explosion. Stones flew through the air and a large cloud of debris spread across the room. When the dust cleared, an enormous crater covered most of the wall.

A tongue whizzed across the room, spiraling and twisting like a snake. Kakashi leaped out of the way just in time, before it managed to coil itself around his body. The copy nin instantly threw several kunai at his opponent, but Orochimaru sidestepped them casually, the weapons missing his face by mere inches. The snake user retracted his tongue back into his mouth right afterward with a sickening slurp.

Orochimaru lifted his hand into the air and his own arm transformed into twenty dark green serpents which coiled and hissed loudly. "Senei ta jashu!" the sadistic sannin called out. He then thrust his arm forward, the snakes lunging through the air and closing in on Kakashi. The serpents opened their jaws, poison dripping from their fangs, ready to sink into their target.

Before the vile serpents could reach him, Kakashi went through a set of hand seals at a tremendous speed. He took a deep breath, his body bending backward at the large intake of air, and shouted out, "Katon karyu endan!" As he exhaled a colossal stream of fire came out of his mouth, scorching the many oncoming snakes out of existence. The inferno advanced on Orochimaru, the flames burning everything in their path. A wall of wind erupted in front of the pale shinobi, countering the searing hot fire and dispelling it in a storm of red.

The first thing Orochimaru noticed was that his opponent was nowhere in view, the chamber appeared completely vacant. Without warning, a hand shot out of the ground, and grabbed onto the snake sannin's foot. Kakashi propelled himself out of the floor; chunks of stone flew upward as he emerged from his hiding spot. In the process he had pulled Orochimaru's legs a foot into the ground, disabling him from moving from his position. A kunai knife was readied in Kakashi's other hand, and without delay, he swung it at his target. The sannin was able to twist his body sideways just in time. Instead of his heart, the weapon embedded itself into Orochimaru's shoulder, a steam of blood cascading downward from the injury.

However, the copy nin had made eye contact with the black haired sannin. For a second, he flinched, the image of death itself swarming in his mind, disabling him to make any movements. Orochimaru wasted no time, and that very instant the Kusanagi, the legendary serpent blade, shot out of his mouth. The razor sharp blade extended forward with the hilt remaining lodged in the sannin's throat. The metal blade pierced Kakashi's stomach, a fountain of blood splashing into the air and sprinkling onto the stone floor. The massive pain Kakashi received allowed him to escape the illusion caused by the snake sannin's killing intent. The grey haired jounin quickly leaped backward, the sword sliding out of his body, leaving a large gaping crimson hole.

As soon as he landed on the ground, Kakashi clasped his stomach; blood was oozing out like a river and pouring to the ground below, making a crimson puddle. The sharingan wielder choked on the blood in his mouth as he coarsely moaned, "Fuck…" His injury was a serious one, and without immediate medical treatment it could easily turn fatal.

Orochimaru retraced the sword back into his mouth, and it grossly slid down his throat, as if a python was eating its prey. "I'm sorry Kakashi-kun, but you're still no match for me," the snake sannin teased. He then grasped the kunai lodged in his shoulder and pulled it out, letting it fall to the floor.

'I need to attract attention of the other shinobi… It's my last chance," Kakashi thought. He ceased his panting, and formed a hand seal. With a large explosion of white smoke, a dozen kage bunshin were scattered across the chamber. 'This is my last chance!'

The copy nin concentrated his chakra and yelled out, "Kage bunshin bakuha!" The shadow clones dispersed around the room all exploded simultaneously. Destruction and disarray filled the whole chamber from the immense detonation of the clones. The force of the blasts shook the ground, parts of the ceiling began crumpling down, and giant fragments of stone sailed through the air. Gigantic craters now occupied the areas where the kage bunshin used to be.

When the debris and clouds of dust cleared, Kakashi stood there, trying to catch his breath, and attempting to prevent his bleeding with his hands. Suddenly, the copy ninja realized his opponent was nowhere in sight. "Where is he!?" the sharingan wielder asked aloud franticly.

"Behind you," came an amused reply. Orochimaru stood only a few feet behind Kakashi, completely unharmed from the massive explosion that took place only a few seconds ago. His arm was transformed into a large brown snake, its mouth was already wide open, ready to strike.

Before Kakashi had the chance to turn around, the snake shut its massive jaws around his ribcage, its fangs sinking deep into the jounin's flesh. The copy nin screamed in pain as the sound of snapping bones could be heard. The vile serpent had already injected a large dose of poison into Kakashi's body. The snake then opened its maw, letting go of the sharingan wielder, and reverted back into Orochimaru's arm.

Kakashi's vision was blurry, and he could only feel intense pain. His eyes began to close, and he was quickly loosing his balance. The copy nin slowly slumped to the floor, blood flowing out from the multiple injuries that were inflicted upon him.

Suddenly, part of the ceiling shattered into pieces, and crumpled to the floor below. Men wearing all black and animal masks descended through the hole, nearly a dozen of them poured into the chamber.

"It seems you've managed to stop my plan for now, Kakashi. But I will have Sasuke-kun," and with those final words, Orochimaru disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Kakashi's vision was blurry, and he could barely make anything out. His body was loosing consciousness fast. However, he could distinguish the black outfits of the ANBU. More than ten of them were inside the chamber by now, armed and ready to fight. That was the last thing the copy nin was able to see before he fell into the darkness.

The special forces rushed over Kakashi, quickly checking his condition and examining the injuries. A few of them scouted around, making sure that Orochimaru was not inside or near the chamber.

"Hatake Kakashi has several serious injuries that may turn fatal unless he receives immediate medical treatment! Take him to the emergency room right away, we don't have a moment to spare!" the leader of the group shouted out. Two of the ANBU members carefully yet swiftly picked up the copy nin's limp body, being careful not to put extra strain on the bleeding gashes all over his torso. Those black op members then disappeared in a cloud of smoke, transporting to the hospital.

In a minute another ANBU ran in front of the leader, carrying the unconscious body of Sasuke in his arms. "Uchiha Sasuke seems to have no major injuries, but his body is under heavy strain," he reported.

"Since his life is not in any danger, we should just bring him to the hospital and let the medical team decide what to do with him. Currently, Kakashi is our top priority," the leader replied.

"Yes sir!"

In the emergency room of the hospital, the body of Hatake Kakashi was placed on the bed, a large group of medical nin surrounding him at once, all dressed in completely white uniforms.

"Shit! He's bleeding all over the place, from the looks of it he has already lost too much blood! What the hell happened?" the main doctor asked urgently.

"Hatake-san had fought Orochimaru, and when we arrived he was already unconscious, and was in a serious condition. We brought him here right away," one of the black ops answered.

By now medical nin had surrounded Kakashi from all sides, their hands emitting a bright green chakra. As they traced their palms over his injuries, the wounds began slowly closing up. While this happened, one nurse was keeping the blood back with bandages as well as her own medical jutsu. "This isn't good, his injuries are taking way too long to heal! We may have to perform chikatsu saisei no jutsu!" a medic nin shouted out.

"Are you insane? While that regeneration jutsu will work we don't have near the amount of time needed to set it up and begin it!" another nin countered.

"Just keep closing his injuries with the shousen justu as you are doing! And somebody start performing a blood transplant! He may not last long, he already lost a huge amount! Also I shall scan his body to check for internal injuries or poison! Move it people, we cannot allow Hatake Kakashi to die!" the head doctor commanded.

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The Sandaime Hokage stood over the motionless body sprawled on the bed. The aged man cast his gaze downward in sorrow. It was a miserable day for Konoha, the village had lost one of its strongest and most respected shinobi. "This is a sad day indeed," Sarutobi stated.

On the bed lay Hatake Kakashi. The sheets his body rested on were soaked crimson. The copy nin's heartbeat had ceased a long time ago. The jounin's eyes were closed; he would never get to use the sharingan again.

"Nothing could be done?" Sandaime asked yet again.

"By the time he was transported to the hospital, Hatake-san was already in critical condition. We managed to close up his life threatening wounds, however his body was injected with an enormous amount of poison. By the time we identified it, the venom had already began taking effect. Before we could create an antidote for it, Hatake-san had passed away. I'm sorry Hokage-sama, there was nothing we could have done in the time we had," a medic nin answered somberly, not being able to look Sandaime in the eye.

"We apologize, Hokage-sama," the rest of the medical squad said.

"It is alright. You did all you could. Shinobi die, it is a common thing. You did all you could, and tried to save him with all your might. Do not feel guilty for his death," Sarutobi replied. "What of Uchiha Sasuke, I understand the boy was with him at the time?"

"He is in stable condition, and expected to recover in a short amount of time. The seal Hatake-san had placed on him was a complete success. If only that damn snake bastard hadn't appeared…" a medic nin reflected, clenching is fists in anger.

A brief moment of silence followed, and then the leader of the ANBU squad walked over to the bed of the dead jounin. "I'm sorry we didn't make it in time… Rest in piece, Hatake Kakashi," he said gravely.

"Do not blame yourselves, the only person responsible is Orochimaru. Kakashi, you helped our village an enormous amount. Your sacrifices will not go to waste. Thank you. Kakashi, I just wish it didn't have to end this way," the Hokage alleged. The old man took his pipe and placed it into his mouth, inhaling deeply. He stared out the window, gazing into the night sky. The dark grey clouds hovered across the moon, obscuring it from view. "We shall still have to continue this exam. I'm sorry Kakashi, but your funeral will have to wait until all of this is concluded. I know you'll understand."

The Sandaime then turned to the medic nin and ANBU in the room. "Do not reveal the death of Hatake Kakashi to anyone but other jounin. For now, we shall have to keep this tragic event a secret."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the shinobi in the room complied.

Sarutobi turned back and looked at the motionless copy nin once more. "It is always sad when a legend has to die…"

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Sasuke could barely make out where he was. His vision was blurry, his head ached, and his stomach churned. The black haired boy felt faint and dizzy. Sasuke blinked several times in succession, trying to make out the territory around him. "Where am I?" he groaned.

"Hello, Uchiha Sasuke. You are in the hospital, I am the one assigned to look after you," a voice answered.

The sharingan user could finally see the white walls around him, making out a window and a desk on his right side. The boy was lying on a bed in a small room, a medic nin dressed in white sitting in a chair next to him.

Sasuke suddenly bolted into sitting position, seeming awake and alert. "What about the chuunin exam!? What happened? Where are Sakura and Naruto?" the boy asked franticly, confused and unknowing to what was going on.

"First calm down, Sasuke-san. Things are alright. Now, what is the last thing you can remember?" the medic nin replied.

"I…" the black haired boy had a reminiscence of the fight in the Forest of Death. "That snake guy!"

"Sasuke-san, a man named Orochimaru has placed a seal on you. It is knows as the curse seal. This man is a strong nin that had betrayed Konoha long ago. The curse seal would normally spread and begin to consume you any time you use chakra," the medical shinobi began explaining.

Sasuke traced his fingers along the mark, twisting his head to look at it. "I don't remember these extra marks…" the boy commented, remembering what the seal originally looked like when it was placed on him.

"Hatake Kakashi, your teacher, had put a seal on it to keep this curse seal under control."

The Uchiha was slowly analyzing the information given to him. "Who exactly is this guy? Orochimaru?"

"I am sorry, but I am not permitted to say more. However, my knowledge of him is mediocre to begin with. Later, everything shall be explained to you with more detail," was the answer.

"What about Sakura? And Naruto?"

"Your teammates were the ones that brought you here, they both are fine."

"What about the exam?"

"This hospital is located in the tower which is at the center of the Forest of Death."

Before the med nin could explain more Sasuke interrupted him. "Wait, so this is the place we were supposed to get to in the exam?"

"Yes, you've been passed out for a few days. However, technically you are still in the exam, and have not yet been disqualified."

The Uchiha stared back at the man in shock. 'So Naruto and Sakura… they managed to make it?' he thought in amazement.

"The chuunin selection exam will continue tomorrow. For now you must rest and regain your strength, Sasuke-san. When it is time I will escort you, but right now it would be best if you go back to sleep and get some rest. Your body is very fatigued, and you need to rest to replenish your stamina and chakra supply," the medic nin suggested.

The sharingan user complied, he was still in the exam, so everything was alright. Sasuke closed his eyes, resting his aching body. The boy felt completely exhausted. He didn't feel like asking any more questions, he could figure out his desired information later. The sharingan user lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.

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Naruto lay in the worn-out bed, staring at the ceiling. The rooms they were assigned to wait in really sucked, no better choice of words for it. It was cramped, dirty, and dark. The only things inside the room were three beds. It almost resembled a cell of a prison. The blonde shinobi almost wished they stayed in the forest longer, it was much better than this empty room. He had stayed cooped in here for several days, impatiently waiting for the second phase of the chuunin exam to conclude. And if that wasn't bad enough Sakura had to stay in the same room since they were on a team. It seemed she would never stop talking, and the only thing the kunoichi yammered about was "her poor Sasuke-kun".

'God, this was just torture. I bet being with that Morino Ibiki guy inst nearly as bad as this,' Naruto thought. Currently though, the pink haired girl was asleep on the bed located across the small room. It gave Naruto some time to himself at least. But the Kyubi container still loathed boredom. Just being in this room was so far the hardest part of the chuunin exam for him.

The orange clad ninja flipped over on the creaky mattress, now lying on his back. He let out a deep sigh. "Guess I'll just count the cracks in the ceiling again…"

Time slowly drifted by. "Six hundred thirty five, six hundred thirty six…"

The door to the cell was flung open and a shinobi clad in grey attire entered the room. Naruto recognized the guy as one of the examiners from the written test. Sakura had woken up from the clattering noise the door created as it smashed against the wall. She rolled over to see what was going on. "What's happening? Who are you?" the girl asked.

"The next exam is about to begin," was the man's answer.

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**End Note: **So… I really hope I don't have to buy a flame shield! (I think you guys know what I'm talking about, no?) It's slightly a dark fic, and that's what dark fics tend to contain. What did you guys think of the chapter? So far, it was my favorite to write out of all of them, hope you guys liked it also.


	5. Chapter 5

**Blood-Stained Kubikiri**

…**Chapter Five…**

**Quick Note: **Yes, I suck! This story hasn't been touched for ages. Hate me… detest me… But, hey, I did get the next chapter out after all, even if it did take a millennia. Thanks for all your reviews/comments/thoughts on the story. They helped me out a bunch (I actually got out of my stump and pulled writing back into one of my hobbies because I was re-reading them)! And moving on, let's get to the story (if you haven't already forgotten it)!

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"First off, for the second test… Congratulations on passing!" the Sandaime Hokage announced.

All the genin were assembled inside an indoor stadium. Stands were suspended along the walls, and in the front of the room were two giant stone hands forming the ram hand seal. Behind the statue were a few electronic scoreboards that were currently off. The examinees who managed to pass this far stood in two rows, looking at the Hokage who was now addressing them. Behind him were many of the examiners, as well as a few of the jounin teachers.

Idle chitchat broke out between the seven teams who managed to make it as well as the older, more experienced shinobi up front. Sasuke was released from the hospital, now standing next to his team. Sakura was wooing over him, and asking him if he was alright. Naruto stared off into space, hands tucked into his pockets. The rest of the genin looked around, observing who else made it to this stage.

'Wow, all nine of the rookies passed. I was not expecting this,' Naruto thought to himself.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Listen carefully!" Anko suddenly shouted through her headset, getting the attention of everyone in the room once again. Sarutobi proceeded to explain the true meaning behind the exam, and how it served as a replacement for war, and how the genin represented the strength of the village. Naruto let if fly over his ears, this information was neither interesting nor valuable to him.

When the Hokage was about to begin the explanation of the third test, a man named Gekkou Hayate took over. The baggy eyed man elucidated that a preliminary must be held first due to the amount of people passing. "Those who feel like quitting after these explanations, please come forward now. Since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately," Hayate proclaimed.

A small outburst came from the group of genin, surprised that they have to proceed in their injured and ragged states. A grey haired adolescent sporting glasses raised his hand, a sheepish smile adorning his face. "Ummm, I'm going to quit."

"You're Yakushi Kabuto from Konoha, right? You may leave now," Hayate replied. "Does anyone else want to retire? Oh, I forgot to mention that from now you will be battling individually. You may raise your hand based in your own judgment."

Kabuto was now walking out the door, a few examinees looking back at him quizzically. 'Why would anyone quit at this point? That's really lame,' Naruto contemplated.

When nobody else bothered to quit, the referee continued his speech. "Um… Now, let's begin the preliminary. You will be fighting each other, as if this was a real confrontation. Since we now have exactly twenty entrants, we will conduct ten matches. The winner will advance to the third test. There will basically be no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. So if you don't want to die, you better acknowledge your loss. But when I decide the winner is clearly established, umm, since we don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses, I'll jump in and stop things." The baggy eyed shinobi coughed a few times throughout his explanation. "And this electronic scoreboard," when mentioned the device turned on, "will show the match-ups for each battle. Now let's announce the two names of the first fight."

The words "Inuzuka Kiba vs. Akadou Yoroi" flashed on the screen.

"Will the two combatants please step forward?" Hayate commanded rather than asked. The two genin stepped to either side of the man, appearing ready for the fight. "Now, we will be starting the first match. Will everyone but the two participants move to the upper level?"

The genin as well as the upper ranked ninja strolled up the stairs to the stands, finding their place among the railing to get a good view of the stadium.

"Now, please begin," the referee announced, stepping back to give the fighters room.

"Akamaru, stand back for now. Let's see if I can finish this in one hit!" Kiba barked confidently. The dog being addressed hopped of its owner's head and moved slightly back. The ragged boy clasped his hands together in a seal, quickly blurting out, "Shikyaku no jutsu!" He got down an all fours as chakra began gyrating around his body and steadily seething off his torso. The Inuzuka's finger nails grew outward, and the shinobi took on a feral appearance.

Without a second to spare, Kiba charged forward, accelerating so fast that he left a skid mark in the floor. The canine-like nin thrust his elbow out as he approached his opponent, ready to slam it into the foe's stomach. At that moment, Yoroi shot out his hand and pushed down Kiba's elbow at the exact same he stepped to the side. The sudden change in momentum not only caught Kiba by surprise, but offset his balance. He toppled past his enemy, unable to stop due to the immense speed of his charge. The parry was successful, and since the canine-like shinobi was still within the range of his opponent, he Yoroi his arm back promptly. The back of the black clothed nin's knuckles battered Kiba right in the rear of his skull. This not only forced the boy to wince in pain, but with the addition of his unbalanced momentum it sent him spinning to the ground. Kiba fell onto his back, unable to recover from the stun he received from his opponent's attack. Yoroi did not let this chance go to waste, and with a fluid and swift movement followed the boy to the ground. He shoved his arm downward and grasped the Inuzuka's forehead with a tight grip, shoving his cranium against the ground.

"It's over. Chakra kyuuin no jutsu," Yoroi announced. His hand began emanating a think dark blue chakra, and was then completely shrouded in the energy. The pinned boy let out a dreadful scream. An excruciating pain ran through Kiba's entire body, rendering the young leaf nin completely immobile. He felt his body get weaker and weaker, going completely limp. It was as if his life source itself was being extracted, and the Inuzuka couldn't even lift a finger to stop it.

Just as Kiba thought he was going to loose consciousness, Akamaru darted out of nowhere with his mouth wide open. The white dog clasped its jaw shut on Yoroi's limb, sinking its teeth in as deep as they would go. The black clad shinobi lifted his hand and shook it wildly, trying to get the small dog off, forgetting completely about Kiba. This gave the canine-like nin the chance to push against the floor and slide out from under his opponent. He quickly got to his feet, and attempted to regain his composure. His body was still in pain and unsteady from having so much of his chakra drained.

"Fucking mutt!" Yoroi growled, still trying to fling the canine off his arm. He was about to grasp Akamaru by the head and try to pry it off, but it loosed its grip on its own, quickly dropping to the ground and darting back to the side of its owner.

"Thanks Akamaru, if it wasn't for you, I would be a goner," Kiba said, getting a happy bark in response from his partner. The Inuzuka peered cautiously at his opponent. 'This guy… I shouldn't have underestimated him,' the young leaf nin thought. 'Not only is his taijutsu and timing excellent, with a little slip up, he can use that jutsu again and drain the rest of my chakra. However, he doesn't seem to prefer attacking, but rather launching a quick counter. So to beat him… I will just simply have to use an attack that he won't be able to do anything against.'

Kiba pulled out a bag from his pocket and smirked. "Well Akamaru, looks like we have to go all out. Get ready." The boy pulled out two soldier pills from within his pocket, swallowing one, and tossing the other to his canine partner. The canine-like ninja felt his chakra being restored immediately. Akamaru ingested the pill as well, and instantly its fur became a deep red color. The small dog underwent a sudden transformation, its fur turning a deep red, and its body twitching with excitement. It appeared vicious even with its lack of size. The crimson canine leaped onto Kiba's head as the boy made yet another seal. "Juujin bunshin!" With a gush of white smoke, Akamaru was no longer an animal, but now an exact replica of Kiba, hunched over on top of the Inuzuka's back. Yoroi carefully watched the two, but didn't utter a word.

Kiba and Akamaru leaped in different directions, and began rapidly running on all fours around their foe. "Hey glasses, just because you got me once already, don't think it's gonna happen again!" Kiba shouted out. He reached within his jacket, and held three smoke bombs in his hand. The canine-like shinobi flung them at Yoroi; the spheres burst into massive clouds of purple smoke as they hit the ground.

"Shit, this isn't good…" Yoroi murmured to himself. The older ninja ran through the smoke, attempting to find a way out of the purple abyss. The smoke seemed to get thinner, and the black clad ninja was met with the view of the stadium yet again. However, something else that he didn't expect just happened to be in his sight as well.

An object was spinning at him with an unbelievable rate, but Yoroi was just able to recognize it as his canine-like opponent. His arms were outstretched, creating a vortex of rotating claws. The slashing whirlwind was already in the face of Yoroi, and all the nin could do was leap high into the air. He pushed off the ground in the nick of time, just barely dodging the attack inches below him, but was still unable to sigh in relief.

"You fell for it! Now that you are already in the air, you are unable to dodge!" Kiba hollered at that exact moment. The black haired boy was in the air as well, approximately ten feet above his opponent. He thrust his limbs and waist clockwise, entering the same high-speed rotation, now resembling a spinning grey torpedo.

"Shit, then that other one was his dog!" Yoroi shouted, unable to do anything in the air.

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba yelled as he collided straight into Yoroi's torso. His claws tore into the opponent's stomach, the impact propelling Yoroi into the ground below. The force was so great that it cracked the stone floor into pieces where the crash took place. The wounded ninja let out a fearful cry, but the onslaught wasn't over. Kiba kept spinning downward, slamming into the other shinobi once more. Yoroi's body was violently crushed into the ground, grinding slightly through the floor because of the clawed whirlwind driving into his torso. A torrent of small rocks and blood sprayed into the air, the black clad ninja was already unconscious. The Inuzuka stopped his rotation and leaped backward, finally realizing his opponent was no longer moving. The boy's jacket and part of his face was covered in the other ninja's blood.

"I think I overdid it a little," the canine-like said in a joking manner to Akamaru, who was no longer a copy of his owner but rather his original dog form.

"Winner of the first match, Inuzuka Kiba," the referee announced. Before Hayate even announced the outcome, medic nin were already rushing into the stadium, a stretcher in hand. They hoisted the unconscious ninja on to it; hastily scattering out of the arena. Akadou Yoroi had a large red crater in his chest and stomach from the Gatsuuga, and blood was freely flowing from it.

"Hah, I almost feel bad for the poor guy," Kiba scoffed with pride as he ascended to the stands, bearing a smirk. Akamaru was sprawled on top of the boy's head in his usual fashion.

"Then without delay, let's head to the second match," Gekkou Hayate announced with a cough. The large screen began shuffling through a list of names, showing "Abumi Zaku vs. Aburame Shino".

"Wow, two from our team in a row, what a pleasant surprise! Show him whose superior Shino!" Kiba hollered, slapping his teammate on the back. The bug user nodded in response, though bearing an annoyed look.

The two competitors stood in front of Gekkou Hayate, staring each other down. "Umm, now we will begin the second match."

"I hope Shino-kun will be alright," Hinata whispered from the upper level.

"Don't worry about him," Kiba reassured her. "He is one guy even I don't want to fight."

"Please begin."

Zaku charged straight at his opponent, slamming palm strikes with both his arms into Shino's torso. The Aburame took the impact of the hit, yet wrapped his hands around those of Zaku's in the process, enabling him to stay in place and avoid most of the recoil he would have received.

"Idiot! These aren't normal hands! Zankuuha!" the Otokagure nin shouted. Enormous surges of wind came from both of his palms, obscuring Shino in the debris they created. The bug user was sent flying across the arena, his ragged body slamming hard into the stone tiles.

"Hah! Can you still get up?" To the surprise of Zaku, the Aburame did just that. Astonishing the sound nin even further, the mysterious genin's skin began peeling off, revealing a horde of black insects. His whole body then collapsed into a vast ocean of bugs, revealing that it was a kikai bunshin. The real Shino stood on the opposite side of Zaku, leaving the boy cornered.

"This is already over," Shino calmly remarked.

"Like hell it is!" Zaku shouted throwing his arms out to both sides, targeting the bugs as well as their owner. "This match has just begun! Zankuuha!"

Gusts of air did not launch themselves from the devices in the boy's arms. Instead, Zaku's elbows were blown off from his body, sending his arms flying. The wind had been trapped inside his arms, and created enough force to cause explosions within his joints. The boy screamed in pain, flailing around the remaining stubs wildly, and sending drizzles of blood through the air.

"I told you it was already over, ever since your first attack. When my kikai bunshin caught your hands, it clogged those canons implemented within your arms. You should have listened," Shino said, striking the boy in the face with enough force to knock him out.

"Winner, Aburame Shino," Hayate coughed, as the medical crew quickly ran onto the stadium to pick up the armless ninja.

"See, the other guy was the only one who should have been worried. He never stood a chance," Kiba grinned at Hinata. Shino walked back up to his team, receiving another slap on the back from Kiba for winning.

The next match was already decided. Up in the stands, the lazy boy known as Nara Shikamaru put his hands together in a seal and began focusing his chakra.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?" Ino asked, not understanding the boy's actions.

The lazy shinobi stopped forming his seal and looked up at his blonde teammate. "I'm up. Wish me luck," he replied idly, motioning his head at the scoreboard which displayed his name. He then began walking through the stands to the descending stairs, not in the mood to jump over the rails like most of the other ninja have done.

"Do you think he…" Chouji began saying.

"Probably," Ino responded.

When Shikamaru finally made it to the center of the arena, his opponent was already there waiting for him. Misumi Tsurugi was dressed just like the other partner in his team, wearing mostly black and a mask covering the lower half of his face. The only notable difference was instead of black shades he wore normal glasses.

"We will now begin the third match," the baggy eyed man coughed.

"Unlike Yoroi, even against little punks, I show no mercy. I'll say now, if I put my techniques on you, it's over. Give up immediately. I'm going to end this quickly," Tsurugi stated.

"Nice speech there. I'll make sure to do that," Shikamaru yawned.

Before Shikamaru could even bat an eyelash, the masked nin was next to him. Tsurugi's hand reached out, and began stretching; it was coiling around Shikamaru's arm. Before he could progress, the masked nin's posture stiffened, and his arms returned back to his side. He now stood in the exact same stance that his opponent was in.

"So you're some kind of rubber man? That is pretty dangerous," Shikamaru smirked.

"How? What just happened?" Tsurugi gawked in disbelief.

"You're even hastier than the others at charging in and not thinking what the opponent's arsenal might contain. Look at our shadows. That's right, I have you in my kagemane," the Nara explained. Tsurugi glared back at the younger boy in rage. "I've set it up before the fight even began, but kept it the shape of my own shadow. As soon as you got close to me, your feet were already standing on my shadow. Thanks for saving me the trouble of having to catch you."

The lazy boy put his hand within his jacket, and pulled out a kunai. Tsurugi copied the boy's motion, but since he wasn't even wearing a jacket, much less keeping weapons in that area, was holding up nothing. "It's quite convenient how I stored my weapons in a different place from you," Shikamaru said, staring the other ninja right in the eyes. Those eyes reflected panic and desperation.

"It was a good match," with those words Shikamaru swung his kunai in a horizontal arc, slicing along the older nin's neck. Having no weapon in his hand, Tsurugi didn't even touch Shikamaru. The kagemane was now dispelled, and the masked nin was grasping his throat frantically, his hands quickly turning crimson from the blood that gushed from the wound. He was on his knees, gagging and unable to breathe, and then slumped on the floor.

"I didn't hit any vitals, so if he gets attention soon he will be fine," Shikamaru mentioned. The medical crew was already picking up the bleeding shinobi, starting the treatment on his neck as they carried him away. The shadow user began scaling his way to the stands.

"Yes! You did it Shikamaru!" Ino cheered.

"You rule!" Chouji added. "Though you did it much more violently then I would have expected…"

"There really wasn't another option. I normally wouldn't resort to something like that," the boy sighed.

"Next match, Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino. Will the combatants please come down?" the referee announced.

Naruto slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. This was one match he didn't care to watch. He knew both of the girls' skills were so inferior that the battle would be terrible. His prediction came true, as ten minutes later they two fighters were still brawling it out with poor taijutsu. When the match did finally end, it was a draw. 'Thank god,' the blonde shinobi thought. 'If either one of those progressed to the actual third exam, they would probably get slaughtered.' The two girls were not in serious conditions, so they were carried up to the stands and placed against the wall until they regained consciousness.

"The fifth match. Temari vs. Tenten, please come forward," Hayate called a minute later. The two girls assembled to their positions, Tenten bearing a confident yet determined look, and Temari sporting an annoyed scowl.

The match was over quickly. All of the brunette's various weapon attacks were deflected from the wind the Suna nin summoned via her fan. Dozens of weapons were now scattered across the ground, not one having hit the target. Temari swung her fan harder than before, creating a miniature whirlwind that captured Tenten, ripping across her flesh in various places and leaving the girl immobile. It was topped off with a classy finish, Temari catching the falling girl on her fan, possibly injuring her spine in the process.

"How boring…" the blonde kunoichi scoffed.

"The winner, Temari," Hayate declared with a cough.

The said girl smirked, hurling the weapon user across the arena. Lee had jumped down and caught the girl in his arms just in time. He skid backward from the force Tenten had been sent sailing.

'Wow, what a bitch,' Naruto thought. 'But I guess she knows how to show who's superior. It was a flawless victory. Even if it was a horrible match up, based on what skills they had.'

"Nice catch," Temari sneered.

"What are you doing? Is that how you treat somebody who gave their all in battle?" Lee shouted, clenching his fist.

"Shut up. Take that loser and get out of here," the girl replied coldly.

Lee's large eyebrows twitched in fury. He ran at the Suna ninja, preparing a spin kick. His foot slammed into Temari's fan; the kunoichi had blocked perfectly, not even skidding back an inch from the impact.

"Just as I thought. You're as pathetic as you appear to be," the pigtailed girl teased.

"What did you say?" the green clad boy growled.

"Lee, stop!" Maito Gai hopped down into the arena as well, halting Lee from taking any further actions.

"Temari, get up here. You've already won. Stop wasting time with that trash," Gaara ordered from the upper level.

Rock Lee was getting even more furious. His teacher once again stopped him from doing anything rash. "That's enough Lee. Sand team, I would like to warn you. This kid is strong, you better prepare yourselves," Gai said as he placed his hand on his pupil's shoulder.

"Well, that was quite interesting," Naruto muttered to himself, watching the exchange with slight curiosity. In the meantime, Sakura and Ino had come to.

"The scoreboard shuffled through the remaining list of names. It stopped with "Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji".

"Hinata, I'm sorry, but you should forfeit this match. Neji would ruthlessly beat you," Kiba suggested, concerned for his teammate. Hinata desperately stared at her fidgeting hands, wondering what she should do. The girl began walking down the stairs. The two genin faced each other in the arena. Neji's expression was cold, and Hinata's was one of fright.

"Before we begin the match, I would like to say something, Hinata-sama," Neji began. The kunoichi looked up at him, startled. "You don't make a good ninja. Forfeit now! You are too kind. You wish for harmony and avoid conflict. You agree with others and never resist. And to top it off, you have no confidence in yourself. I always feel your sense of inferiority, that's why… I think it would be best if you remain genin. But the chuunin exam could only be taken as a group of three. You couldn't turn down your teammate's request, and unwillingly entered this reality. Am I wrong?"

The girl in question didn't answer.

"People cannot change themselves!" the long haired boy declared. "A loser will always remain a loser. Their personality and strength will not change. Because people cannot change, differences are born, expressions like elite and loser are created. Looks, brains, ability, size, personality, all people judge and are judged by these values. Based on these unchangeable factors, people discriminate and are discriminated against. And they suffer within their own means. Just like the fact that I am from a branch house and you are from the main house cannot be changed… I have seen through many things with this Byakugan. So I know, you are just acting strong. In reality you want to run away from here." The boy activated his bloodline to prove his point.

'God, when will this guy shut up? This speech seems endless…' Naruto thought to himself.

The branch house member proceeded, pointing out all of the girl's flaws, making her shake uncontrollably and tear up. "You cannot change your fate!"

"I… I-I give up…" Hinata whispered, shoulders hunched and eyes staring at the ground.

"You made a wise choice, you would never have been able to defeat me."

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji," Gekkou Hayate coughed. The two Hyuugas went back to the stands, Hinata's face scorned with dread. Her teammates tried to comfort her but it proved pointless.

'She actually fell for his speech. Pathetic, really. Even if you're going to lose, might as well go out with a bang,' Naruto thought, shaking his head at the girl's decision. 'More importantly, when the hell am I going to go!?'

"Tsuchi Kin vs. Akimichi Chouji, please take positions, the seventh match will now begin."

"Kick her ass Chouji!" Ino shouted from the stands.

"Hey Chuoji, if you win, I'll take you out for barbecue," Shikamaru offered, knowing that his teammate would be motivated at the thought of food.

The large boy's eyes flared up and he clenched his fists. "Alright! I'll make sure to take this victory!"

"Oi, fatso, let's get this show on the road already," Kin scoffed.

Up in the stands Ino and Shikamaru flinched. "That's double motivation right there," the lazy boy muttered.

"I'm not fat! I'M BIG BONED DAMMIT!" Chouji hollered at the top of his lungs, already forming his desired hand seal. "Ninpou, baika no jutsu!"

The Akimichi's body expanded in size and turned into a sphere, his limbs and head were tucked into his now massive body. "Nikudan Sensha!" you could hear the boy holler as he began spinning at an absurd rate, tearing up the floor below him. He spun toward Kin, the black haired girl barely managing to jump out of the way in time. He continued following her, yet was unable to hit the agile kunoichi with his rolling attack. At the very last second the sound ninja would leap over or around the revolving ball, knowing she had time to recompose herself before Chouji could manage to make a complete turn and hone in on her once again.

'Shit, if this fatass is in this state, I can't touch him or make him fall into sound prone genjutsu. He is bound to eventually hit me,' Kin considered as she dodged the destructive human orb. 'I'll have to make him stop moving.'

The kunoichi pulled out several kunai. The weapons had thick wire wrapped firmly around the handle. The black haired girl hurled them at the walls of the arena, setting up a net of wires. She made sure to lead Chouji after her, so she could set up more of the thread, crisscrossing it and turning it into a firm structure. Kin then leaped through the wire, Chouji rolling right behind her. His body crashed into the cables head on, the force nearly pulling the lodged kunai out of the wall. The wire did manage to keep him spinning in place, as there were now multiple threads wrapped around him from all sides. Kin wasted no time and slapped an explosive note onto the spinning boy, before leaping backward.

"Chouji, there's an explosive note on you!" Ino hollered, worried about her teammate. The cry was unheard, as Chouji's head was tucked into his body. The boy put my torque into his spin, and the wires finally snapped, having had breached their limit.

They human ball launched at Kin at a speed greater than before, the restraints keeping him in place now having been broken. The sound nin couldn't dodge in time, Chouji had closed in on her too fast. As the Akimichi made contact with his opponent, the explosive note went off. The colossal explosion shook the arena, sending both combatants flying in separate directions. They were out cold before they even hit the ground.

"Both contestants are knocked out, therefore neither will advance to the third exam," Hayate announced, waiting for the medics to rush out and grab the two severely damaged ninja.

'That was just poor execution on both their ends,' Naruto analyzed.

The scoreboard shuffled through the last six remaining names.

Gaara appeared in the middle of the arena in a torrent of sand. The scoreboard had flashed his name as well as that of Rock Lee. After a few antics from the green spandex duo, Lee leaped down to the battle ground, staring Gaara in the eyes. "I couldn't be happier at this outcome," the fuzzy browed boy remarked as he took his stance.

"Now the eighth match, please begin!" Hayate declared.

Rock Lee charged in, sending a spinning kick at Gaara, only to be stopped by a wall of sand. The sand crashed as if it was a wave, the green clad shinobi barely rolling backward in time to avoid it. He dashed in from the other side, launching a punch at Gaara that was once again neutralized by the sand. Lee kept firing various attacks, though none proved to be successful against Gaara's ultimate defense.

Gaara sent spouts of sand erupting from the ground, his opponent jumping onto the hand seal statue to avoid it.

"Lee, take them off!" Gai suddenly shouted to his student, giving him a thumbs up sign in the process.

Fuzzy brows was clearly surprised. "But! But Gai-sensei! That's only for a time when I must protect many precious people, isn't it!?"

"It's alright, I'll allow it!" Gai hollered back.

Lee's shocked expression turned into a wide smile as he sat down and crossed his legs. He took of the set of weights that were attached to each of his legs. "Yosh! Now I can move easier," the boy shouted as he stood up, holding a set of weights in each hand.

Many people watching the match had skeptical looks about how much of an advantage this would give him. However, when the weights dropped, making two enormous craters after hitting the ground, everyone's jaw was touching the ground.

"H-Holy shit! That's intense," Naruto said aloud.

"Lee! Go!" Gai yelled.

"Yes!" with that reponse the boy vanished from view, appearing behind Gaara using pure speed. Lee's rate of movement was multitudes faster than what it had been before. The sand was barely catching his attacks in time. The boy then went airborne doing a few rapid spins and hitting his red haired opponent right on the head with both his feet. Gaara was sent skidding backward.

"Now, we're just getting started," Lee smirked.

"Explode!" Gai bawled.

"Yes!" the green clad ninja dashed around the Suna nin, moving in and landing a hard punch that sent his opponent flying. To Lee's surprise, Gaara's face crumpled where he took the hit, revealing that his face, along with the rest of his body was covered in sand that served as armor. The sand reformed itself on the boy's face, providing protection once again.

The fuzzy browed boy looked up at his instructor, who nodded in return. Lee began to unwrap part of his bandages and let them dangle to the ground. In a flash, he kicked up a storm of debris as he ran in a circle around Gaara at a newly achieved speed. The green clad shinobi nearly teleported, appearing right under Gaara, delivering a kick to his jaw that sent him high into the air.

"It's not over!" Lee shouted, using his arms to launch him into the air after his opponent. The boy continued with a flurry of kicks, sending Gaara higher and higher. Fuzzy brows winced at the pain he was receiving, and started to wrap the bandages around the Suna shinobi. Then both the shinobi plummeted into the ground with a powerful spiral, obliterating the ground below them. "Omote Renge!"

As the debris cleared, it was apparent that Gaara had substituted himself with his sand. The real Gaara appeared right behind Lee, forming a tidal wave of sand that slammed Lee into the wall, and then crashed into him, cutting and bruising the Konoha ninja. The boy was unable to dodge because of the strain the gates had put on his body. He was barely managing to stay alive against the onslaught Gaara was throwing at him.

Lee stood up and crossed his arms in front of him. The ground began to crack, and the ninja's skin began to turn red. The boy had opened the third gate, and then forced the fourth. Veins bulged from all parts of his body. It was impossible to see the hit that once again sent Gaara rocketing into the air. The whole stadium felt the impact of the intial strike, the stone tiles further breaking into pieces. Lee was nearly invisible, sending Gaara flying in a multitude of directions. The red haired boy was unable to do anything to stop the oncoming hits. The green clad ninja opened the fifth gate as he unleashed the finale, a punch that sent Gaara crashing into the ground with immense power. "Ura renge!"

Both the combatants were lying on the obliterated floor, immobile. Gaara's gourd had turned into sand, acting as a cushion and shield from the final blow. Even so, the boy was cringing in pain barely able to move. Lee was no better off, the gates having had torn his muscles.

The red haired ninja lifted his arm, and the sand around him turned into a giant replica of a hand. It began sliding toward Lee. He was unable to get up, trying as hard as he could to crawl away. The sand was too fast; the hand clutched the green clad boy. Lee's body was completely covered by the large mass of sand.

"Sabaku sousou!" Gaara shouted out.

Gai was already sprinting toward his pupil, but hell was already unleashed. The sand constricted, crushing the boy burrowed within. Gai swiped the sand out of the way, revealing the bloody and mangled body of his former student, a body that was completely stiff.

"Lee… no… no," the instructor tried to formulate words, but they wouldn't come out. Everyone watched in silence.

Gaara managed to lift himself up. "I killed him. I killed him to prove my existence!" the boy yelled, a crazed look adorning his face. He then regained his composure, and vanished in a tornado of sand, reappearing back in the stands.

Neji and Tenten hopped down and ran next to their teacher, who held the motionless boy in his arms, hugging him tightly. Neji's face remained stoic, but you could make out the pain in his eyes from losing a teammate and a rival. Tenten's face scrunched into despair as she approached the boy, barely keeping back her tears.

"Lee, please come to… You couldn't have gone out like this, you can't be… you can't be," Gai let tears freely fall from his eyes, grasping Lee's blood covered body. "It was my entire fault… why did I let you… Lee…"

Naruto didn't know the people, but he couldn't help but feel agony for them. It was obvious that the bond the green clad ninja shared was more than that of a teacher and student. 'It's as if… that boy was his son.'

Everyone watched in lament, some turning away in sadness. Gaara stared, a small amount of rage and confusion swirling in him. "Why?" the red haired boy muttered quietly.

'Of course Gaara wouldn't be able to understand something like this,' Temari thought, diverting her attention from the unstable jinchuuriki.

The medic crew had immediately rushed out, but stopped when they realized the boy was dead. Gai's face was sopping wet, and Tenten was now shedding tears as well. "I'm sorry Lee. Please forgive me. If it wasn't for me…" the jounin continued. "Lee, you truly were, you truly were a great shinobi of the Leaf…"

The scene seemed to last ages. The medical crew eventually carried the deceased boy away. The rest of the team returned to the stands, realizing there was nothing that could be done. Gai's usually cheerful and comical face was now cold as stone. His expression was downcast, all emotion devoid from his eyes. He was grinding his teeth in a scowl, and his fists were clenched so hard that his fingernails pierced the skin.

'Death… has to come at some point. That's how life for a ninja, for a tool, is…' Naruto contemplated. Losing those who mattered most to you was even harder. Naruto didn't even know Haku or Zabuza for more than a few days, but they were the only one's who he connected to deeply, the only ones he could understand and be understood by. Watching them die was unbearable for the boy.

"We will now continue the matches," Gekkou Hayate announced, keeping a professional and seemingly emotionless face on. "The ninth match, Kankurou vs. Kinuta Dosu. Will the combatants please come down?"

"Finally my turn. Thought I would never get to go with that whole crying ordeal going on," Kankurou commented, not feeling any pity for the shinobi his brother executed.

Dosu chuckled in response. "Good, then I can get to killing you faster. I'm hoping for a fun match."

"Begin!"

The two fighters stared each other for a short time, observing and calculating.

"Well then, if you won't start this," Kankurou said, "I will." The Suna nin charged in at his opponent, launching a hook that was easily avoided by Dosu. He followed up with a kick, which was successfully blocked and parried. The two continued in a quick battle of taijutsu, both coming out virtually unharmed. They were still testing the other's ability.

'He seems average in the field of taijutsu... but something is still off,' Dosu analyzed.

"Well then, let's really get things started," Kankurou declared, unclasping the object wrapped in bandages that was resting on his back.

'Like I'll let you!' The Otokagure ninja quickly charged in, delivering a heavy blow to his opponent's gut. He then kicked the loose object which was now falling to the ground. Kankurou's weapon was sent flying across the stadium, now completely out of his reach. The strange mummy-like object now was now lying against the back wall of the room, a few dozen feet away from the combatants.

"Whatever that thing was, it's no longer in you arsenal," Dosu smirked. "I however, have my weapon with me, and I'm ready to use it!"

"You're taijutsu is quite good," Kankurou responded. "But it's not enough to beat me."

"Fool! I have the clear advantage here!"

Dosu went for a punch straight at his opponent's face. The Suna shinobi thrust both his arms upward, barely blocking the bone shattering punch. Dosu smirked in response; the amplifier on his arms was activated. The deafening sound waves targeted both sides of Kankurou's head, taking out both his ears.

"It's over. I shattered both your eardrums!" Contrary to what Dosu said, Kankurou began wrapping his arms around Dosu's body, trying to get him in some kind of hold. The bandaged ninja panicked, now putting his palm against Kankurou's stomach and sending sound waves directly into his body. The attack proved to be completely ineffective.

"What's going on, why aren't you-"

Kankurou's body seemed to transform, turning into a wooden marionette. The bendable arms and legs wrapped further around Dosu, constricting him and restricting his movement.

"A puppet! Shit, then the real one…!" as Dosu announced those words, the bandaged object that lay across the stadium stood up, revealing the genuine Kankurou.

"I was using my weapon the whole time!" the Suna nin smirked, using the nearly invisible chakra strings to manipulate the puppet. Blades and various weapons emerged from the wooden marionette, tearing and slashing into Dosu. The pressure the puppet applied to the sound nin's body also broke many of his bones. When Kankurou let his weapon glide back to his side, Dosu fell to the ground a mangled and bloody mess.

"The other participant is unable to fight. Winner, Kankurou!" The medical crew picked up the crimson stained ninja. He had many cuts and fractures, but none of the injuries were too serious. They quickly scurried away to start the treatment and end the blood flow.

"Well then, time for the tenth and final match. Will the contenders please step forward?"

Naruto didn't know quite what to think of the situation, but smirked anyway. The boy intertwined his fingers and stretched his arms out forward. His laced fingers popped in their joints, emitting loud cracking sounds. The boy then swung his head briskly to both sides, stretching his neck muscles and cracking it as well. Naruto grabbed the railing and swung his body over, gently landing on the stone floor of the arena below him. He nonchalantly walked over to the referee and stood in his designated position.

Sasuke weaved his hand through his black hair and scoffed. "I was really hoping for a challenge," he murmured under his breathe. With a sigh, the Uchiha also leaped down onto the arena.

"Go Sasuke-kun! You can totally kick that idiot's ass! This will be a cinch for you!" Ino yelled obnoxiously from the stands. Sakura didn't say anything, since both Sasuke and Naruto were her teammates, but it was obvious who she was mentally rooting for. All around the stadium, it was apparent that the shinobi expected for the Uchiha to be the victor. Even the jounin spectators made up their minds before the battle even begun. The Sandaime attentively watched the two nin with a blank face, awaiting for the match to start.

Naruto and Sasuke stood several feet apart from each other, Hayate taking his place between them. Sasuke was standing in a neutral position, slightly leaning forward, with his hands in his pockets. The sharingan user seemed quite relaxed, but seemed eager for the battle to begin, and bore a slight smirk. The Kyuubi container was in a slight fighting stance, and was tapping his foot rapidly against the ground. A slight smile resembling a smirk was adorned on his face as well. The two combatants stared each other in the eye, neither of them showing any hesitation.

"Alright then… let's get this over with. I'm sorry Naruto, but you won't become a chuunin this time," Sasuke stated, his eyes turning blood red. The Sharingan had been activated.

"You shouldn't be so cocky Sasuke, you don't know what might happen," Naruto answered back.

The Uchiha let out a grunt in return. "With these eyes, I do."

"If you two are done," Hayate announced, "The final match of the chuunin exam preliminaries, Uzumaki Naruto versus Uchiha Sasuke…" The two fighters observed each other in silence. The spectators' eyes loomed over the shinobi in silence, the atmosphere was tense. "Begin!" Hayate swung his arm down as the word escaped his mouth and leaped backward out of the way of the two examinees.

The black haired boy instantly charged in, launching a roundhouse kick at Naruto. The blonde boy managed to block it with his arm, intercepting it and managing to relieve the power of the impact. Sasuke wasted no time and already had a second kick in motion. Naruto, not having enough time to execute a proper block, quickly positioned his forearm in front of his body. He winced in pain as his arm absorbed all the damage, the force of the kick sending him skidding a few feet backward.

His hands were already in the desired hand seal and the Kyuubi container quickly executed his jutsu. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, six replicas of Naruto were standing by his side.

"You're too predictable, Naruto," Sasuke scoffed.

"Heh, I'll make you eat those words, teme."

The shinobi surrounding the area murmured in confusion and disbelief. A normal genin wasn't ever supposed to be capable of performing such a technique, especially a dead-last one.

"Those aren't normal bunshins! They are solid," Shikamaru exclaimed from the stands.

"Heh, guess the idiot learned something useful after all!" Kiba laughed from his spot.

The shadow clones charged in at Sasuke, ready to swarm him with attacks. The Sharingan user dodged and parried the oncoming assaults, hitting a few of the bunshin along the way and causing them to disappear. His eyes were able to track the enemies' movements and allow him to go through the exchange of blows completely unharmed. Meanwhile, Naruto had scurried backwards, putting a large amount of space between him and his opponent. He quickly went through a set of hand seals, not wasting a second of the time his clones had granted him. The blonde boy extended his arm upward, gritted his teeth, and began channeling his chakra into the air of the arena.

'I have to focus… all the water moisture, I have to gather it,' Naruto thought to himself. The air of the stadium seemed to get denser, almost heavy. The area turned hazy, and a thin mist began spreading over the arena.

Sasuke connected an axe kick to the shoulder of the last remaining shadow clone, making it disappear in a cloud of smoke. The Uchiha looked up, seeing Naruto in a strange stance. The air around the boy was turning white and thick. "How… how do you know a jutsu like that!?" he exclaimed.

Naruto smirked in response, right before his face was obscured by the pallid air, and in only a few seconds the whole battle ring was covered in a murky fog. "Kirikagure no jutsu," the blonde shinobi chuckled.

The spectators from the stands looked down onto the battle field, not being able to make out a single thing. While the observing points of the shinobi had not been completely buried in mist, the stadium below was. The thick fog obscured everything from site, and now the large room had an eerie and deadly atmosphere.

"That's the same jutsu that missing mist nin used! How can Naruto know that?" Sakura said aloud, slightly startled.

Naruto smiled, the match should now be in the bag for him. He pulled out a familiar scroll, and juggled it between his fingers as he bit down on the thumb of his other hand hard enough for blood to pour out. He unfurled the parchment and smeared his finger across it, leaving a red streak. The blade known none other than the Kubikiri no Houcho emerged out of thin air, an eruption of smoke along with the common sound effect accompanying it.

The noise of when something materializes echoed through the dense fog, reaching Sasuke. 'That sound… did he make kage bunshin?' the Uchiha thought, mistaking the summoning for Naruto's most commonly used jutsu. The black haired boy stayed in place, puzzled as to why Naruto knew the mist jutsu, and what he was trying to accomplish by using it. None of it was making any sense. "Naruto, what the hell are you trying to do!?" he yelled out loud, not thinking clearly.

A wide grin formed on the Kyuubi container's face, and he held back the laughter that threatened to escape from his mouth. Did Sasuke actually expect him to answer back? 'I can't believe he gave away his location just like that," the blonde boy thought. 'He still has to learn a huge lesson of being a shinobi. Don't underestimate your opponent, no matter how well you think you know them. One slight mistake in a battle and it will all be over.'

Naruto tightened his grip on the huge sword, and silently began running toward the direction Sasuke's voice had come from. Due to the endless amounts of training he made himself undergo, he was able to make sure that his footsteps were not audible. His target was now in front of him. The blonde boy swung his oversized weapon forward.

Naruto leaped out of the fog, landing on the railing of the upper level, surprising a few ninja around him. The Kubikiri Houcho had already been re-stored within his scroll, and now the boy was waiting for the mist he created to fully dispel. He was perched on the railing on all fours, scanning the thick white. 'I know I connected, now let's see if Sasuke preformed a kawarimi, or if I actually injured him,' the boy pondered. The mist was almost completely gone, and Naruto was able to make out the figure of his teammate and opponent down below.

A loud gasp of shock and disbelief was exhaled unanimously throughout the stadium. The Uchiha's body was limp on the ground, severed into two pieces right above the waist. A large puddle of blood was already surrounding the mutilated corpse. There was no mistaking it, Uchiha Sasuke was dead.

"Oh shit," were the only words that could formulate in Naruto's mind at the moment.

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**Ending Note**: Two deaths, one chapter? Yup, it happened. I don't specifically have anything against Lee, but he has to go, my apologies. Originally I was going to kill Hinata as well, but then realized she would have never fought Neji if Naruto hadn't egged her on. Now you have to remember, this Sasuke hadn't fought Lee and realized his lack of strength, nor had he gained respect for Naruto. This is why he underestimated him and lost so badly, if you think that the fight was too one-sided. I think I laid plenty of foreshadowing that they would fight each other, too, cookie for those who caught it (I mean Kiba vs. Yoroi just finalized that event). I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter; stage two of the chuunin exam is finally complete!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author Note:**

Alright, let me just say there's been a lot of shit going on. Between the last chapter I uploaded and now I had to move to a new place, so there was tons of packing/unpacking to do as well as all the other things that go hand in hand with moving. Also the new place doesen't allow pets so I (sadly) had to find a temporary home for my dog. Still really upset about that. Life has just been a bitch lately. Oh, and Smash Bros. Brawl came out, any free time I have pretty much goes to that. In short, I have not been able to update, sorry. Hopefully life can cut me a mellow break soon, and I can start writing the next chapter. Thanks for looking forward to this story, and I'll replace this note with the actual chapter when I do manage to get it down. I apologize, but hey, this is supposed to be a hobby anyway isn't it? When life doesen't allow me to practice that hobby, well, that's that. Hope you guys don't get too pissed off at me... 


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